First Impressions and Reflections
by Ms. ST
Summary: She had met him in a cafeteria in the fifth grade, and where she was outgoing and caring, he was shy and insensitive. These are the stories of Cassandra Penna and Sheldon Cooper from their first meeting to the very last day they ever see each other again.
1. Meet Cassandra Penna

It's an eminent fact that humans generally base their opinions on first impressions. Even children, though innocent, judge an individual based on possessions or outer appearance, and, centering their opinion on what they have seen, create a personality to that individual without so much as confronting him or her. It's an ancient habit, one of the countless defects in human society that prevents the happening of utopia. And being aware that first impressions were the key to acceptance, Cassandra Penna glanced over the heads of her fellow students in the lunchroom, seeking out an individual who would hopefully accept her as a friend.

But whenever she spotted an open seat and maneuvered between the tables to sit down, someone would appear and sit in the chair. After the third time this incident happened, she desperately scanned the room again and found a table in the corner with a lone boy writing in a notebook. Though Cassandra was normally comfortable with both genders, she still preferred to interact with her own sex, but as there was nowhere else to sit, she had no choice but to walk up to the boy and introduce herself.

While she made her way to the back of the room, her eyes on her potential new friend, she couldn't help but notice that he was incredibly short for the level of grades (fifth through eighth) that went to lunch at this time. His feet barely touched the ground, and he still had a baby face with slightly chubby cheeks, neatly trimmed sandy hair that was gelled to the right, and dark blue eyes. He was missing a tooth, as Cassandra saw while he spooned chocolate pudding into his mouth, but even though this boy looked younger than the children around him, Cassandra sensed that he was more mature than all of the teachers in the school combined.

"Hi!" she greeted with a friendly smile. "I'm Cassandra Penna. I just moved here from Tallahassee."

The young man, who had obviously been absorbed in whatever he was writing in his notebook, jerked his head up upon hearing Cassandra's squeaky greeting. He said nothing, only expressed his mix emotions of confusion and surprise through widened eyes and an arched brow. Cassandra sensed that this boy was baffled by her arrival and a little afraid because he anxiously glanced at the tables next to him. But perhaps, Cassandra thought, he was just very shy.

Still, the boy didn't say a word, only looked more puzzled when Cassandra set her plate on the table and sat across from him. "It's okay if you're shy," she explained sweetly. He still remained silent. "Or can't talk."

"I'm capable of talking," he said dully, though Cassandra detected a small hint of defensiveness in his tone.

She smiled subtly. "So what's your name?"

The boy squirmed in his seat and began to fidget with his spoon. He looked awfully uncomfortable, to which Cassandra frowned at. She was disappointed in the way her first impression was working out, and she didn't intend to make the kid feel so uneasy.

She placed down the bread she was pulling apart and started again. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to. How about I tell you about myself first? So I won't be such a stranger?" Cassandra didn't wait for the boy to answer, and after tucking an orange curl behind her freckled ear, she said "I'm from Tallahassee, like I said before. I used to go to Pineview Elementary School, but my dad decided to move from one job to another. He works with computers. I have two older twin brothers named Gregory and Theodore, who go to school at the University of Houston, and my mom's name is Melanie. I know how to speak fluent Greek because I come from a Greek family. Uhm… my favorite color is yellow…" Now all Cassandra was doing was fishing for details or anything to get this kid to talk. "My favorite pastimes are gorging myself in pistachios, digging through my dad's old comic books, watching Star Trek: The Next Generation, and collecting European coins." She wiped an invisible drop of sweat from her brow and laughed. "Do you feel more comfortable to talk now?"

The boy's temple twitched as he continuously flipped the spoon between his forefinger and thumb. Placing the spoon on the table, the kid scratched his nose and finally spoke. "I go by the name of Sheldon Lee Cooper. I am nine years old and in the fifth grade, and I take it that from your shocked expression, you didn't know that a child prodigy was amongst you."

After hearing Sheldon's short description of himself, Cassandra was both impressed with and speechless because of the fact that she was sitting across from a child prodigy. She had heard of such children who show outstanding abilities that can be compared to highly skilled adults in a specific field, but she never imagined she would be sitting with one in a lunchroom in Galveston, Texas.

"So you're a child prodigy?" asked Cassandra, amazed.

"I would like to think of it as an evolved species, but yes." Sheldon seemed to relax while he closed his notebook, but he still seemed uneasy when he spoke to Cassandra. His temple would twitch, he constantly twiddled his fingers, and he never looked directly at her – more off in the distance above or beside her head or down at his empty pudding cup.

Cassandra giggled and crossed her arms on the table. "When I heard about child prodigies, I thought how lucky they were. Math, music – it just came naturally to them. They didn't have to work as hard as the rest of us. But my mama said that there was nothing wrong with a little hard work. She said that it was that much more satisfying in the end, to know that the accomplishment you reached wasn't brought by a gift, but by pushing yourself. She said that you can look back at the struggle you had to reach the top of your potential and know that it was all worth it."

Sheldon played with the Velcro on his digital watch while Cassandra spoke. When she fell silent, she watched for any change in his expression, but he remained unreadable. She began to wonder if anyone outside of his family told him how lucky he was and if her confession had affected him in any way, even if he wouldn't outwardly show it. As the silence between them stretched out, Sheldon looked up from his watch to acknowledge that he had heard her, but as soon as he opened his mouth to speak, a large spit ball splattered onto his cheek, causing him to jerk back against his chair with a delayed reaction to shield his face with his arms. He cringed under the sticky saliva as he desperately reached out for several napkins he had neatly stacked beside his Green Lantern lunchbox, but Cassandra beat him to it and began to gently wipe away the wade of spit-covered paper from his cheek. From the table beside them, she heard obnoxious cackling and rude comments, overall typical bullying. However, she tried to ignore them by keeping her eyes on Sheldon. His brows twitched once, and there was a slight difference in his frown – it was somehow heavier. Cassandra had a talent for reading people, and albeit it was faint, she noticed misery glaze over his eyes. A heavy feeling, something that felt like sympathy and sadness combined, settled itself against Cassandra's heart.

When Sheldon didn't protest, Cassandra continued to clean his face and said, "You know, my mama said that people usually fear the unusual and that they act out because of that fear." She crumbled the napkins in her hands and tossed them onto her plate. She tucked her bangs behind her ears again and continued. "It's like Spiderman, isn't it? J. Jonah Jameson was always smearing the name of Spiderman, and I think it was because he was afraid. A man who can shoot webs from his wrist? Crazy! Spiderman was different, someone who society defined as abnormal. The more the hero tried to help, the more newspapers wrote badly about him, and the more people hated him. But in the end, when someone was captured and moments away from death, it was Spiderman that someone was hoping would save him. It was Spiderman he was calling out for, desperate for, relied on. So it's only a matter of time before these J. J.J's will most likely be relying on you. My mama said that fear is natural, but it takes courage to admit to it and willfulness with responsibility to overcome it."

For the first time since Cassandra sat down across from Sheldon, he looked directly in her eyes. From behind those long lashes, Cassandra saw thoughtfulness and realization. Even though he didn't admit it or make any noticeable expression, Cassandra knew she made some sort of impact on him, maybe even touched him. Although she just met Sheldon, she felt proud of herself and pleased to have perhaps moved or impressed the child prodigy even if it was in the slightest way.

"Your mother is very insightful," Sheldon commented at length, recovered from his brief moment of weakness.

Cassandra smiled sadly. "She was."

Sheldon arched a brow, puzzled.

"She died two years ago. She had a stroke."

Sheldon looked away again to some spot behind Cassandra's head as she witnessed him try to control his expression. "I…"

"Don't be sorry." Her smile weakened, and it looked more strained. Cassandra was through that stage, having people feel sorry for her. She didn't want to be seen as anything less than what she was before her mother died. She was done being depressed and angry, and she wanted nothing more than to forget that part of her life.

Silence broke out again, and it was then that Cassandra felt her stomach growl and noticed her plate still full of food. She laughed, with much confusion on Sheldon's part, and began to eat and converse with her newly found friend.

* * *

**A/N:** _I'm not really looking for criticism. You can give it, but the the story was just something I had in my head, and I had a strong need to write it down. And I'm hoping I got Sheldon's age right. Fifth graders are generally around the age of ten or eleven, right? It was kind of confusing because he went to college when he was eleven, but I would think, since he's a genius, he would be at least a year or two younger than everyone. However, I remember his comment, "You went to high school for four years?!" And THEN he went to a boarding school because he was experimenting with or creating lasers. So if anyone wants to explain or clear up anything, you're welcome to do so. :)_

_And so for a ten year old be that insightful... Uhm... Yeah, I just needed Sheldon to be quiet, and I figured that having him in elementary school would be a good idea because I see him as the socially awkward shy kid with somewhat of a smug attitude. Egos aren't created at birth. They're grown. At least that's how I see it._

_Okay, I need to wrap this up. It's 2:00 in the morning, and I have been working on this thing for seven hours (including breaks and editing), and I'm pooped! xD_

**Disclaimer:** _The Big Bang Theory -_ n._ the theory that the universe originated sometime between 10 billion and 20 billion years ago from the cataclysmic explosion of a small volume of matter at extremely high density and temperature _**OR**_ the comedy on CBS created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady. Both, however, are not mine._ :)


	2. Christmas Break

It was during Christmas break that Sheldon visited Galveston, Texas, during his first year in college, only because his mother demanded that he spend time with his family. Because Sheldon was such the momma's boy, he couldn't refuse.

The air was chilly, but not to the point where it was impossibly too cold to be outside. There was no wind, and the sun hung high in the sky, yet being that it was winter, everything looked bleak – the trees were naked, with only the black outline of their branches sticking out like fingers with arthritis; the ground was blanketed with brown, crunchy leaves; houses creaked louder, and they looked as if they were forever under a shadow made from some cloud from above.

Sheldon was sitting outside on a swing that hung from a sturdy oak branch. He wore a brown long-sleeved shirt over a light blue t-shirt, and on top he wore a green light jacket with a white stripe running down the sleeves. Jeans wrapped around his scrawny legs and on his feet were black high tops. Black gloves adorned his hands, and on his head he wore a black beanie. The beanie and the gloves were unnecessary, but his mother refused to let him go outside unless he wore gloves and a hat. Cassandra Penna sat next to him, pushing the swing with her foot. She wore a white shirt, possibly stolen from her father's closet because it was entirely too big for her body, and over that was a red lumber jacket, also stolen from her father's closet. On her legs were jeans, and on her feet, lime green converse.

"…representing text or computer processor instructions by the use of the binary number system's two-binary digits '0' and '1'," said Sheldon, swiftly moving his hands in gestures that helped him explain. He had grown farther out of his shell since Cassandra had first spoken to him, about one and a half to two years ago, but his awkwardness will always remain folded neatly above his personality. "A binary string of eight digits (bits), for example, can represent any of 256 possible values and can correspond to a variety of different symbols, letters or instructions. In 8-bit ASCII code the lowercase 'a' is represented by the bit string 01100001.

"In computing and telecommunication, binary code is used for any of a variety of methods of encoding data, such as character strings, into bit strings. Those methods may be fixed-width or variable-width.

"In a fixed-width binary code, each letter, digit, or other character, is represented by a bit string of the same length; that bit string, interpreted as a binary number, is usually displayed in code tables in octal, decimal or hexadecimal notation.

A bit string, interpreted as a binary number, can be –"

Before Sheldon could finish, Cassandra had leaned over and kissed him on the lips. It was quick, but that hadn't taken away how shocked Sheldon was. When Cassandra pulled away, she saw how wide Sheldon's eyes had gotten and how much his mouth had tightened. If you would have asked her why she had done it, she wouldn't have an answer. It was spur of the moment, and something that had lined the muscles in her heart tugged hard and urged her to lean forward and place her lips on top of Sheldon's. And when she had done it, it felt right.

"…translated into a decimal number," he finished in a whisper. "Why did you do that?" His voice cracked and his cheeks flushed, which made Cassandra smile.

Cassandra shrugged, her grin remaining. "I guess you can call it an early Christmas present."

As Cassandra walked away, Sheldon noticed the little pink pom-poms on the back of her socks, making the side of his mouth twitch.

* * *

**A/N:** _Yeah, I know if anyone read this they would be like, "Sheldon would never have a girlfriend. Nahhhh." She's not his girlfriend. You know how kids are. Anyway, I had this in my head, so I wrote it down. And I know I said I wasn't going to continue, but I guess I lied. xD If I have writers block for my other stories or if I just have an idea, I'll write it down and post it. So enjoy! =)_

**Disclaimer:** _The Big Bang Theory -_ n._ the theory that the universe originated sometime between 10 billion and 20 billion years ago from the cataclysmic explosion of a small volume of matter at extremely high density and temperature _**OR**_ the comedy on CBS created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady. Both, however, are not mine._ :)


	3. Confidence Is a Great Mask

Confidence is a great mask. Not true confidence but the kind one would use to disguise true feelings about herself. Someone with true confidence would never over analyze what she had just said to someone, to make sure she didn't sound like a total idiot. A person with true confidence would never lie in bed and think about every mistake she had made that day. A person with true confidence would never look at herself in the mirror and count every flaw she could find on her body.

Cassandra was doing just that. She stood in front of her full length mirror with her robe opened and falling off of her shoulders. She counted the moles that dotted her arms and legs, was disgusted by her freckled body, tried to suck in her belly fat but failing to look as thin as the models she sees in Vogue, and grabbed her love handles and then releasing the skin to watch it jiggle. Cassandra was not fat. She was curvy, and would fit perfectly in the 1940s where women with curves were thought of as beautiful, where fashion designers didn't cater to women who looked like twelve-year-old boys. But trying to tell a sixteen-year-old that she had curves – not fat – was nearly impossible. It would be like trying to talk through a curtain of tar. You would hear the other person talking, but to comprehend what they were saying wasn't possible.

As she looked in the mirror, she remembered the girls at school with flat stomachs and size two jeans whispering in the bathroom while she was in a stall.

"Cassandra has a muffin-top," one girl had giggled.

"Hasn't she ever heard of jazzercise?" another had commented with a sniff.

"She might have," another had answered, "but she probably rewards herself with ten Twinkies."

The three girls had laughed while they walked out of the bathroom, leaving Cassandra snatching toilet paper to wipe her eyes dry.

Now she just stared at her reflection in the mirror. Her green eyes were already damp with tears, and her orange hair plastered to her shoulders from the shower she had taken several minutes before. In Cassandra's eyes, her body was hideous. She hated how her cheeks puffed out too much when she grinned, the small bump on the side of her nose, her stubby thumbs, her rough feet, and the way her eyes crinkle at the ends when she smiles. These flaws were emphasized in her eyes, and the beauty she held was hidden beneath.

_Knock. Knock. Knock._

"Cassi."

_Knock. Knock. Knock._

"Cassi."

_Knock. Knock. Knock._

"Cassi."

"Just a minutes, Sheldon!" Cassandra, already knowing who was behind the door from the first three knocks, quickly discarded her robe and replaced it with Felix the Cat pajama bottoms and a grey sweatshirt.

Sheldon had already entered graduate school, but every year since he's been to college, his mother ordered him to return home during Thanksgiving holidays. It was his first day back home, and Cassandra guessed that he had spent all day visiting with his family.

"Come in!" Cassi yelled, and Sheldon walked in.

"I predicted a meteor shower a year –" He stopped with his eyes wide open. Cassi was worried that she hadn't really gotten dressed, so she looked down to check that she had clothes on, and thankfully she did. "The blood vessels in your eyes are dilated, indicating that you've been crying." he pointed out.

Cassandra's eyebrows popped up, and she immediately raised her hands to her eyes to wipe away any excess tears. "Oh! I… Uhm. I was watching a movie. _One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest_."

Sheldon gave a skeptical look. "Your VCR is broken."

"New Wonder Woman comic."

"That doesn't come out until next week."

When Cassi looked up at Sheldon, new tears began to prickle at the corner of her eyes. "I'm fat," she whispered.

Her lip began to quiver as she tried again and again to swallow the tears she felt rise up in her throat. She sat on her bed and pressed her chin to her chest just so Sheldon wouldn't see her crying. Cassi knew Sheldon was never a great at comforting people. She was always the compassionate one, so when Sheldon placed a hand on her shoulder, she flinched slightly because she wasn't expecting his touch.

"There, there," he said awkwardly.

Saying she wasn't bothered by his inability to comfort her fully would be a lie. For years she was the one that picked Sheldon up from the playground when bullies knocked him down, the one who boosted his confidence when he couldn't figure out an equation or patted his back and offered words of encouragement when an experiment didn't go his way. She knew he didn't have that talent, but she wished that at least _once_ he would give as much as Cassi did into their friendship. She was about to speak up, but Sheldon beat her to it.

"Did you know that men find women with low WHRs, or waist-to-hip ratios, more attractive than women with high WHRs?" When he saw that Cassandra was confused, he continued. "That is, women with more fat on the hips and buttocks are more likely to attract a male than with women who look like test tubes. The low WHR features serve as cues to fecundity and health, unlike the women who have high WHRs, who are more likely to suffer from health maladies, including infidelity and diabetes. Though, of course, when selecting a mate, both males and females feel as if kindness and an exciting personality are more important in a mate than good looks. Thus, to a certain degree, beauty really is in the eye of the beholder."

Cassandra was speechless at first, astonished by Sheldon's words. He _was_ trying to comfort her. In the best way he can. And even though it was nothing like a mother's touch, and his factual, scientific words disguised his true meaning of console, Cassi did, indeed, feel better than she had before.

"Sheldon, are you saying that you're attracted to me?" Cassi joked with a smile. When she saw red inch its way up his neck, bright against his white collar, her grin grew wider and nearly split her face in two.

He cleared his throat and crossed his arms. "I said no such thing. I merely offered you facts that would assure you that you have the ideal shape of a woman. Not fat."

Cassi looked up at him. He had grown so much taller from when they last met. He was becoming very lanky, and she was sure his mother was pestering him about his eating habits. Bags were under his eyes, and Cassi thought of the many sleepless nights he must have in a week. He still wore his Velcro watch from when he was nine, and his hair had become much darker. In his eyes she saw pride, defensiveness, but underneath his shield, she saw his human side – his apprehensiveness, his anxiety, his fear. Her smile weakened. She wanted to hug him, but at the same time, she knew his boundaries. She had already broken them on the swing set underneath the oak tree several years ago when their lips had met. She couldn't offer to break them again.

Sheldon mustn't have sensed her need for his touch, and thinking that if he approved of close contact, she asked, "Is it okay if I hug you?"

Looking down at Cassi with brief surprise, Sheldon slowly opened his arms and let Cassi walk between them. She pressed her check against his chest and circled her arms around his waist. He smelled of starch and soap and some faint trace of magic marker. She felt his arms awkwardly wrap around her shoulders, and she knew he was very uncomfortable with this contact, but she needed this. Besides, didn't he owe her? After all she had done for him in the past, shouldn't she be rewarded with at least one hug? But then again, you don't do things for the ones you love for a reward in return. Cassi just wanted a hug from Sheldon Lee Cooper. Period.

"So what is this I hear about a meteor shower?" she asked as she pulled away.

Sheldon's eyes immediately lit up. He began to explain how when the Earth crosses the path of Comet Tempel-Tuttle every thirty-three years, the Leonids, or debris from the tail, start flying out of the constellation Leo. And beside him Cassandra was attentively listening, marveling at how animated he became when talking about something he loved.

Confidence is a great mask. It disguises those feelings you don't want others to know about. But one person will come along and put aside that mask, gently place it on a table. And you'll be okay with that because that person will rebuild true confidence, and that mask, that disguise, will collect dust and be forgotten.

* * *

**A/N:** _So tell me what you think about this little number. Hate it? Love it? Meh? I think Sheldon would try to comfort a friend through science. But that's just my personal opinion._ :)

_I was thinking that my next little bit will take place when Cassi and Sheldon are younger -- about eleven and twelve -- and Sheldon is showing Cassi that you can balance an egg on the ground on the first day of Spring and the first day of Fall. I do this twice a year, and I'm sure Sheldon did too when he was a kid. _:3

**Disclaimer:** _The Big Bang Theory -_ n._ the theory that the universe originated sometime between 10 billion and 20 billion years ago from the cataclysmic explosion of a small volume of matter at extremely high density and temperature _**OR**_ the comedy on CBS created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady. Both, however, are not mine._ :)


	4. Balancing Act

"Whatcha doin'?" asked Cassandra when she walked up to Sheldon, who was squatting on his porch with an egg, a notebook, and a pencil in front of him.

"Trying to balance an egg," Sheldon replied simply, his entire attention focused on the egg standing vertically with the aid of his index finger.

Cassandra's eyebrows rose. "Is that possible?"

"Legend has it that one can balance an egg on the vernal – or spring – equinox," Sheldon explained while his eyes were fixated on the egg he was attempting to balance. "People believe that the spring equinox is special because the spin of the Earth's axis points ninety degrees away from the Sun, making gravity 'balance.' That's utter nonsense. Because the Earth is not round, but, in fact, pear-shaped, and because the Earth's orbit is elliptical, not circular, some places on Earth are nearer to our planet's center of gravity than are others. The only thing significant about the equinoxes is that night and day are relatively the same length in time.

"Then there's the autumnal equinox," he continued after a harsh sigh when the egg tipped over to its side. "During the autumnal and vernal equinoxes, the Earth acts the same – points ninety degrees away from the Sun. So what makes spring so special? And why eggs? If gravity exerts such an incredible effect, why can't something that isn't typically balanceable – such as ballpoint pens, for example – be able to stand vertically? And because the Earth mostly faces the Sun at an angle, shouldn't the egg tilt in the direction of the Sun if the Sun, Earth, and egg are lined up?"

"So you're doing an experiment?" she asked hesitantly as she tried to decipher his rant.

"I'm trying to prove that one can balance an egg on any given day," Sheldon spat impatiently as the egg tipped over again. "All of the facts add up to the reality that the vernal equinox has no significant power to balance an egg."

"Maybe the porch is crooked," Cassi suggested with a shrug.

Sheldon looked up from the egg. "This is the only place I could find that has nothing that will interfere with the experiment. And Mother is cooking, so the kitchen counters are out of bounds."

"Did you know that almost all houses have kitchen counters?" Cassi joked with a grin.

However, Sheldon stared at her blankly. "Yes. A kitchen is usually equipped with counters for storage and culinary needs."

Cassi picked up the egg and helped Sheldon to his feet after he scrambled to pick up his pencil and notebook. "You can test your hypothesis at my house."

Cassi lived only a few blocks away, close enough to walk to from Sheldon's house, so after he convinced his mother to let him walk instead of have her drive them to Cassi's house, they started their trek towards her home. They spoke about the happenings of Green Lantern, about how Jordan was romantically involved with an alien Lantern named Arisia, but then later became aware that because there was a difference between Earth years and her planet's years, she was actually a fourteen-year-old girl. Their conversation then quickly morphed into the movie _Real Genius_ with Val Kilmer, which they had watched a week before in Cassi's living room because Sheldon didn't have a VCR. His mother pronounced them as brainwashers and shields to Jesus' love.

Cassi lived in a one story house with three bedrooms and two baths. There was a chain-linked fence wrapping around her property, and once inside, their feet met with gravel. The driveway lead to a small shed in the back, which was left opened and had exposed a lawnmower, a four-wheeler, some shovels and other tools, and two ladders. In the front yard, behind the fence, there was a tree with small pink buds whose branches hugged at the green wooden panels of the house. The yard was a little unkempt. Weeds stretched over the cement steps that lead to the front door and the cement blocks that held the house up. Near the door was a rusty, greasy grill, and beside it was a tin garbage can, both lassoed by a green hose. On the other side, to their right, was a small field with one large oak tree in the middle, where a group of young boys and one girl was playing baseball.

After pulling at the screen door and then pushing at the white door, Cassandra and Sheldon entered into a tiny kitchen. A stove was next to the door, followed by counters that wrapped around to the other side where it ended at a cream-colored refrigerator, which was next to an opening to the hallway. In the middle was a small wooden tabled, stained with use, and on the other side of the room was the living room, where the T.V. was on the news. The living room was littered with neat piles of freshly folded clothes, little dust bunnies, small pieces of paper, and other things Cassi wouldn't guess.

"Dad!" Cassi called after gently placing the egg on the table.

"In the office," her father called back in a yawn. He emerged from a door next to the T.V. in the living room before stretching his arms above his head.

"Hello, Sheldon," greeted Cassi's father. "I didn't hear your mom's car pull up."

"We walked, Mr. Dennis," replied Sheldon.

"Really?" he said in mild amusement. "I see she's letting you branch out a little."

Sheldon didn't necessarily like Dennis Penna. Sometimes his comments weren't essentially the right thing to say, but Sheldon always let them slide. The lost of his wife had probably made him a little bitter.

Dennis was of average height, though compared to Cassi, he was a giant. Sheldon, who came up to Dennis' elbow even at age ten, would surely pass him up once he hit puberty. Cassi's father had a start of a beer belly that slightly hung over his belt. He had a long face with a definite chin, which had a small dimple in the middle. His orange hair was disheveled, possibly from pulling his hand through it several times, and green eyes seemed to look right through Sheldon. Sheldon, when he had first met Dennis Penna, knew that the majority of Cassandra's physical features were inherited from her father because she had the same fiery hair, green eyes, and freckled skin.

"Sheldon's doing an experiment," said Cassi in excitement.

"Uh-huh…" said Dennis skeptically, taping his chin with his finger. "What kind?"

"I want to disprove the myth about balancing an egg on the spring equinox," Sheldon explained. "You can balance an egg on any given day, but a smooth surface is required. Cassandra offered the use of her kitchen counters because my mother is using ours at the moment."

Dennis nodded. "Just clean up any mess you make. But don't stay all day. I don't want your mother calling me and screaming demands to give her, her child back."

But before Sheldon could make a comment, Dennis had already turned his back to the kitchen and walked into his office. A shadow came over his face, but it soon passed when Cassi called him over to the counter. From inside, looking out of the window, they had a perfect view of the baseball game going on in the field. A part of Sheldon envied the children outside, who played freely and scraped their knees and elbows but got right back up without the aid of their overbearing mother. He wanted to laugh – truly laugh – the kind of laugh that hurt every time you tried to breath, that left your throat raw, your voice hoarse and raspy, your stomach aching and cramping. He wanted tears to swell in his eyes and his legs to fold in under him, the way he had always seen the children do it. It sounded odd, but he wanted it.

"Earth to Sheldon," Cassi giggled as she poked him playfully on the shoulder. "Let's get this show on the road!"

He pried his eyes away from the baseball game, took a deep breath. After taking the egg from Cassi's hand, he set it gently on the black and white speckled counter top and held his breath when he released his finger from the tip of the egg.

"It stayed!" Through her excitement, Cassi threw her arms in the air and was about to hug Sheldon, but her foot caught on the leg of a chair. Her side hit the cabinets under the counter and she landed face first on the ground. Sheldon's arms were awkwardly stretched out as if he was about to catch her, but he just stared, frozen, even after she sat up and started to chuckle. Cassi looked up at Sheldon and laughed at his expression, but neither of them knew that the egg had fallen over and was rolling off of the counter until it had cracked and splattered onto Cassi's head. Instantly her back straightened, and she felt the gooey slime ooze down her head and drip onto her shoulders. This time, it was Sheldon's turn to laugh.

At first it was only a low chuckle, but he felt the giggles rise in his throat and soon after he was having a difficult time keeping his laughter locked behind his lips. His face that usually only revealed dull expressions cracked wide open to display his amusement, which was something that Cassi had never seen before. She was in complete awe, mesmerized by the laugh lines around his mouth and the way his eyes became just some slits and crinkled up at the corners. As he clutched his stomach, his legs folded beneath him, and he collapsed on the floor, so caught up in his giggles that sometimes he forgot to breathe.

Dennis, curious as to who was laughing so hard, was suddenly towering over Cassi, but instead of being concerned about the yoke dripping from his daughter's head, he too was staring at Sheldon and asked, "What are you doing?"

Cassandra grinned. "Watching a robot find his human side," she replied softly as she watched tears roll down Sheldon's cheeks.

* * *

**A/N:** _The ending was not at all how I first envisioned it to be, but I kinda figured, you know, enough with Cassi. This is about Sheldon _and_ Cassi, and I felt that she was kinda dominating the story. And yes, all of that egg stuff is true. I did research. _:P

_Okay, so I won't be posting anything at all for about a week because I'm going Europe on Thursday and won't be back until the next Sunday. I won't have my laptop, my cell... So! To make me feel extra special when I return, please tell me what you think of the drabbles. Is Sheldon out of character? Does he need to be more oblivious to human socialization? Do I need to change anything about Cassi? Is she becoming a Mary-Sue? Do you have any suggestions for me that would really help me get Sheldon's personality to the T? Do you have any request or suggestions for the next drabble? Would you like to see a sexeh scene?_ ;D

_Please make a review with your answers if you want! Or just say how much of a crappy... I mean good... job I'm doing... _:D

_Toodaloo!_

**Disclaimer:**_The Big Bang Theory -_ n._ the theory that the universe originated sometime between 10 billion and 20 billion years ago from the cataclysmic explosion of a small volume of matter at extremely high density and temperature _**OR**_ the comedy on CBS created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady. Both, however, are not mine._ :)

**P.S.:** _What did you think about Dennis Penna? Oh, and I apologize for any typos! _xD

**P.P.S.****: **_Also, I want to thank my reviewers Nelle07 and Mariabonita, and because I couldn't send you a reply to your review, Athena, I want to thank you for reviewing! I was a little afraid that their personalities might not connect, but I guess I did an okay job. I always forget to thank my reviewers, but I really do appreciate you guys spending even the tiniest bit of time reviewing my story. It really makes my day. _=)


	5. Banana Split

Cassandra let out an exasperated sigh as she pressed the power button on her Nintendo to turn it off. The scene with Mario and Bowser quickly flattened until her TV was completely blank. After throwing the console next to the gaming system, Cassi whirled around on her bottom until she was facing Sheldon sitting on the couch. Grumbling something under her breath, she drew her legs up to her chest and crossed her arms on her knees.

"Do you want something to eat?" she asked grumpily.

Sheldon shook his head. "You're just trying to make an excuse so that you don't have to fight Bowser for the tenth time in a row."

"That's exactly what I'm doing," Cassi agreed without hesitation. "Mario doesn't stand a chance against that over-grown turtle."

"You're the one controlling Mario," Sheldon pointed out wryly, but then, after seeing Cassi's expression turn dark, added, "A sandwich would be nice."

"I hope you like peanut butter and banana," said Cassi as she stood up with a small smile, "because that's all we have."

Sheldon didn't reply but simply followed Cassi into the kitchen. He sat at the head of the table where the chair didn't wobble, the light didn't blind him no matter where he turned his head, he didn't have to strain his neck to talk to another person in the kitchen, he could watch the food being prepared in case he saw that the cook did something unsanitary or something he didn't like, and he's far enough from the window to feel some of the breeze to cool down in the summer and close enough to the stove to feel the heat to warm up in the winter. The head of the table was Sheldon's spot in the Penna household, which was fine with Cassi's father because he usually ate in his office anyway.

As Cassi was grabbing for the ingredients she needed to make Sheldon's sandwich, he watched her like a hawk. She took out a half a loaf of Bunny wheat bread, a jar of creamy Jif peanut butter, and some bananas whose skins were beginning to blacken. Sheldon relaxed a little, seeing that everything was in order.

When Cassandra picked up a banana and began to peel it, Sheldon straightened up and looked at her hands puzzlingly. The way she had peeled the banana caught him by surprise. With her index finger and thumb, Cassi had pinched the bottom of the banana until the stub split. She had then taken the two sides of the stub and ripped the skin in two to reveal the banana inside. It was certainly an odd way to peel a banana, something Sheldon had never seen before, and so naturally he had questions.

"Why did you peel the banana that way?" he asked when he stepped beside Cassi, who was in the middle of slicing the fruit.

Startled, Cassi flinched from Sheldon's sudden appearance, but after she recovered, she answered, "Monkeys peel bananas this way. It's easier, and the banana almost always comes out in a whole."

"I've never read about that," Sheldon replied almost defensively, as if to prove Cassi wrong.

She detected his tone, and urging herself not to roll her eyes, she politely said, "Well… Just because you didn't read something, Sheldon, doesn't mean it doesn't exist."

"I've never read about the gravitational pull on Neptune's moon Triton, but I certainly know that exist."

After calmly setting the butter knife down, Cassi crossed her arms over her chest and turned to Sheldon. "Are you upset that I know something you don't?"

"No," he said immediately, but the blush that was crawling up his neck proved otherwise.

"If you're so eager to prove me wrong," said Cassi in an even voice, "then why don't you head to the library and read the book I found the information in? The book is called _Monkeys and Other Primates_. Or, if you'll be disgusted with reading a book that's on a sixth grade level, you can whip out one of your encyclopedias and read from there."

With Cassi speaking so calmly, it was hard for Sheldon to detect that she was upset. Even her body language, after turning back to the counter and continuing to slice the banana, Cassi didn't seem to be at all upset, but Sheldon, from the pit of his stomach, felt strange, like he knew something was wrong. But soon his eleven-year-old mind wasn't worried about Cassi's feelings but was more concerned with proving her wrong. Forgetting about the peanut butter and banana sandwich, Sheldon exited Cassi's house into the summer heat and headed to his house so that his mother could drive him to the public library.

XX

"She's right," Sheldon whispered in amazement, as if he couldn't believe it. Those words felt like razors against his throat. It was hard to admit that he didn't know everything the world had to offer. What else did he not know? Past the thirtieth digit in pi. What happened to Amelia Earhart? What was the universe before the Big Bang? Did Atlantis really exist? Who built Stonehenge? Who really killed Kennedy? No. He was a genius. He was _supposed_ to know these things even if no one else did. He was supposed to be an evolved species, someone who knew all of the Earth's secrets, who can solve all of the world's mysteries.

Disgusted with himself, he closed the book and pushed it to the side like a child does to his plate of broccoli. Sheldon Lee Cooper, the kid who knew the Theory of Relativity forwards and backwards, failed to acknowledge how monkeys ate their bananas. It sounded ridiculous that he would be so upset over the matter that if he wasn't so frustrated and disappointed with himself, he might have laughed at how he was acting, but the belief of his superiority and advanced knowledge was shot down to the pit of his stomach where anger began to bubble.

After pushing his chair back in frustration, he stormed out of the library and waited for his mother to pick him up.

Once home, he ignored his mother's nagging and walked to the swing under the oak branch. He plopped down on the left side and breathed in the fresh air. As he rested his head on the back of the swing, he closed his eyes, took deep breaths, and recited formulas in his head to calm himself down.

_d = d0 +vt = .5at^2  
v = v0 + at  
v^2 = 2ad  
Force is mass times acceleration.  
Work (energy) is force times distance.  
Change in velocity required for a plane change of angle phi in a circular orbit: delta V = 2 sqrt(GM/r) sin (phi/2)._

"You only recite formulas when you're anxious or frustrated," Sheldon heard Cassi say, and before she had said something, he hadn't realized that he was speaking out loud. "May I sit down?"

Because of his embarrassment, Sheldon didn't look Cassi in the eye but nodded nonetheless. The swing shook and squeaked when Cassi sat next to him, but she remained silent. He could feel her looking at him as if her stare was burning a hole in his skin, and he could feel himself shrink smaller and smaller the longer she watched him.

"You were right," he finally said in a tone that suggested that he was trying to swallow his pride and actually congratulate Cassandra.

But she shrugged. "So?"

Sheldon, shocked and slightly appalled by her response, whirled his head around to face Cassi. "'So'? '_So_'? What do you mean '_so_'? Don't –"

"Sheldon, being right isn't everything," said Cassi.

"That's because it's the only thing!" Sheldon's voice rose as he became frustrated again.

"Why?" Cassi tilted her head to the side and looked thoughtfully at her friend.

"Because being wrong is not something a person like me does."

"Sheldon," Cassi began softly, "whether you want to admit it or not, you're human. Evolved species or not, you will always make mistakes. And that's okay. There's no shame in being wrong, only in failing to correct your mistakes. You… You can't know everything, Shel. You just can't. The world is jam-packed with knowledge, with things that haven't even been discovered yet. It's just… It's impossible to know it all. Think of this: if you did know everything, nothing will come to a surprise to you. Think of that feeling you get when you've discovered something you didn't know before. You like it, don't you? Imagine that feeling gone. Forever." When Cassi looked over at Sheldon, he was slouched against the swing with his arms crossed over his chest. She sighed when she stood up and added, "Just think about what I said. Please."

As she walked away, Sheldon looked after her and whispered, "I was wrong."

* * *

**A/N:**_ I'm back from Europe! And to celebrate, I wrote another little drabble. People wanted to see more of Sheldon, so I thought of this little number. Hopefully Cassi didn't dominate the story. And with this drabble, I tried to have Cassi not so nice and sweet. She can tolerate Sheldon's personality to a point, but no matter how nice a person is, Sheldon_ will_ find a way to get under his or her skin. So she doesn't blow up like most cliché characters ("she's really nice, but dont get her mad cause ur'll regret it lol"), but she tries to make the person guess what she's feeling. Does that make any sense? Probably not._ xD

_So yeah. Tell me what you think. Good? Bad? Eh? Want to spit on it? I'll accept any review!_ =)

**Disclaimer:** _The Big Bang Theory -_ n._ the theory that the universe originated sometime between 10 billion and 20 billion years ago from the cataclysmic explosion of a small volume of matter at extremely high density and temperature _**OR**_ the comedy on CBS created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady. Both, however, are not mine._ :)

**P.S.:** _I again want to thank my readers, Nelle07, Mariabonita, and Athena! Without your wonderful reviews, I'd would have probably quit this story already. So thank you again._ :)

**P.P.S.:** _That banana thing is true. I saw that on Yahoo! one day and have been opening my bananas that way ever since._ =)


	6. The Talk Theorem

It was the bottom of the fifth in the baseball game Sheldon and his father were watching on the television. Sheldon, after a failed protest against watching the game, sat boringly next to his father, making no attempt to follow the game. He leaned his elbow against the arm of the couch and rested his chin in his hand while internally praying for a commercial break. When one came, he was surprised by how quick his prayer had been answered but then deduced that commercials run every so many minutes, and he so happened to have prayed for one when one was scheduled. But when the TV turned black and Mr. Cooper cleared his throat, Sheldon forgot about the coincidence and turned to his head to his father.

"Son," his father began solidly, but the way he griped his beer can suggested that he was very comfortable with what he was about to say. "Your mother forbad me from telling you this, saying that Jesus will tell you in his own way once he felt you were ready, but as I watch you become a man… And you spending so much time with that Penna girl… I feel we should have… The Talk." Despite being terribly uneasy about having this conversation with his son – the son he couldn't even have a normal conversation with – Mr. Cooper did an excellent job with keeping his embarrassment tucked away and hidden.

Sheldon, on the other hand, couldn't control the redness in his cheeks from appearing. "Father…"

"Don't interrupt me, son," said his father sternly. "I've prepared a whole speech for this. All right…" He took a deep breath. "So when a man and a woman love each other very much –"

"Father," Sheldon interrupted, desperately wanting to save his father's embarrassment and to end this conversation, "I am already aware of how a child is conceived."

"Oh, thank God," Mr. Cooper sighed in relief before finishing off his beer. He set the can down on the end table and wiped his palms on his jeans. "For a minute there I thought I'd have to show you magazines and shit like that."

Sheldon's eyes widened as his father laughed and turned the game back on.

* * *

**A/N:** _Wow, Sarah! You're spittin' out chapters left and right! Heh heh heh heh heh... No. I just thought of this today, and because it was so short, I was like, "Eh, this'll be a surprise." So yeah, sorry about the shortness and lack of Cassi-ness. Or maybe that's a refresher._

_I really don't like the last line. It doesn't sound... finished. What do you think? And again, I want to thank everyone for their reviews and for reading!_ =)

**Disclaimer:** _The Big Bang Theory -_ n._ the theory that the universe originated sometime between 10 billion and 20 billion years ago from the cataclysmic explosion of a small volume of matter at extremely high density and temperature _**OR**_ the comedy on CBS created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady. Both, however, are not mine._ :)

**P.S.:** _I was thinking about changing the name of this story. I think that's possible, right? Do you guys have any suggestions?_

**P.P.S.:** _So some ideas that I have are kinda dark, while the others are a little fluffy. I just wanted to warn you guys because I'm afraid that you might get bored with the dark and fluffy stuff, and I wanted to make sure you'll be okay with that. So I hope it is okay... Yeah_. :)


	7. Fear Factor

As the sun peeked above the fluffy clouds, Cassandra was making her way to Sheldon's house. She was ecstatic to find out that Sheldon decided to take a week off in the summer from his research in graduate school. Though somehow Cassi had a feeling that Mary Cooper persuaded (or better yet, demanded that) Sheldon take a small vacation to visit his family. Never had she been so excited to see him, but then again, she hadn't seen Sheldon since he left for Germany almost a year ago.

As she nearly sprinted across his lawn towards the door, Cassi's heart was practically beating out of her chest. A large smile was already drawn across her lips as she pictured the moment when she would see Sheldon's pinched, expressionless face and wonder what he was really feeling at the moment. Would he be trying to hide his excitement? His joy? The only way to find out, Cassi thought, was to knock on the door and see for herself.

But when she rapped her knuckles against the wood, there was no answer. She knocked again, but again there was no one to respond and let her in. Curious, she walked around the house to find that there was no car, but what she did find was light coming through Sheldon's window. He was home, she knew, because Sheldon was never the kind of person to leave the light on when he wasn't using it. Because he would argue that turning off the lights would not save energy because energy cannot be made nor destroyed but rather transformed, he simply turns off the light to save money.

When Cassi took a step towards his window, she immediately stopped and began to wonder if crawling through Sheldon's bedroom window would be considered a break-in. He was home, and it wasn't like he wouldn't know she was there. She was going through _his_ window, after all, and he was in the same room. And she didn't intend to steal anything, either.

"Well…" she said to herself, "this will be awkward."

After walking up to his window, she pressed the heels of her palms against the wooden frame and pushed up. The wood was old and apparently didn't get any use, and so it took a couple of tries to make the window budge. With one last shove, the window slid opened with a loud creak and groan, and when the crack was big enough, Cassi slipped her fingers through, grabbed the edge of the frame, and pushed up again until the window was wide enough for her to crawl through. With one hand on each side of the window sill, Cassi jumped and heaved herself in. She lifted her leg over the ledge, straddled the sill for a second until she slipped her other leg through and jumped down on the other side. She then closed the window again and stepped more into the room.

The carpet was blue, and the walls were white and plain with nothing adorning them except for selves stacked with books and a model train. A desk sat in the corner with papers stacked neatly in black containers, and beside his bed, where a lump was buried far beneath his blue sheets, a dresser stood with a lone stuff animal of a monkey. On the other side of the bed was a side table with the surface buried in tissues, Vick's vapor rub, and a thermometer. Sheldon was sick.

Cassi's breathing suddenly became shallow as if all the air in the room was sucked out and all that was left was heat – condensed, unbearable, poisonous heat. She tried to swallow, but her throat was dried like it was lined with sandpaper. Her mind began to spin, and when her hands hit the window with a loud _thud_, she hadn't known she had moved at all.

She heard Sheldon twist in his bed, the sheets slip away from his body, and the squeak from the mattress when he sat up.

"Cassi," he whined with a sniff.

"What?" she responded without turning around. She couldn't face him. Not when he's sick.

"Will you rub vapor rub on my chest pleeeeeeeese?" he pleaded.

"Why can't you do it?" asked Cassi, her voice cracking, her body, shaking. She soon began to break out in a sweat.

"Vapor rub makes my hands smell funny."

"What about your sister or mom?"

"Mother went to the store to pick up more medicine, and Missy said that if I asked her one more time she would make me eat it."

"Sheldon…" Cassi sighed, shaking her head.

"Please, please, please, please, pleeeeeeeese?" he whined again, sounding like a desperate child wanting a new toy.

Cassi turned around. Sheldon, with his arm stretched out and the vapor rub delicately gripped between his fingers, looked like death, or maybe it was Cassi's fear of sick people that exaggerated the bags under Sheldon's eyes; his colorless, pasty, almost translucent skin; his shallow cheeks and frail, ailing body. When Sheldon took a deep breath and forced out a large, hoarse cough, Cassi jumped and immediately turned back to the window, stuffing her hands in her pants' pockets to stop them from shaking.

She shook her head again. "I can't…"

"But I'm sick," he argued with a huff.

"Exactly…" said Cassi softly. This fear of sick people developed after her mother had passed away. No matter how minute the illness was, Cassi always connected the symptoms to death. When she heard a person cough, the bedside monitors beeped in her ear. When she saw or heard someone vomiting, she pictured blood, puddles of it, everywhere. Sniffing meant that the person was soon to be sick, and therefore, Cassi would immediately avoid that person. She refused to eat out because the food would be unfamiliar to her, and she ate only what she knew didn't make her sick.

"The likelihood of me dying from a cold is very slim," Sheldon explained after a pause. Cassi gripped his window sill, surprised by how Sheldon knew that she was afraid and where her fear originated from. "And because you've already breathed in the virus as soon as you opened my window, by now you're prone to catching it." When Cassi's head jerked up and her shoulders tensed, Sheldon added a quiet, "I'm sorry. Perhaps 'Soft Kitty' will help calm you down."

She cleared her throat. "You just want a reason for me to sing it to you." As she turned her body towards the bed, Cassi saw that Sheldon hurriedly picked up the vapor rub he must have dropped on his bed and shoved it in the air towards her. Twiddling her fingers, Cassi walked to his desk and pulled out his chair. She pushed it to the edge of the bed and nervously, hesitantly sat down, and as she pulled the vapor rub from Sheldon's fingers, she was careful not to touch his skin. She unscrewed the cap, the acidy, bitter smell of the sluggish, thick goo opening up the sinus cavities of anyone a mile away, and with two fingers she dug out a portion of the slime and waited for Sheldon to lift up his shirt. As she thought of this, her breath caught in her throat and her cheeks began to flush a bright pink.

When he lifted up his pajama top, Cassi swallowed hard. She had never seen so much of his skin before because he was always so self-conscious about his body, even though he would never admit to it. But now he was displaying his scrawny, pale chest to Cassi to rub cream on, and after clearing her throat, she bravely swallowed her fear deep down and touched his skin, circling her fingers counter-clockwise.

"If I get sick and die Sheldon," Cassi threatened, "I –"

"You're a healthy, six-teen year old female who doesn't interact with children, nurses or doctors or other sick people. You have a better chance of dying from kryptonite poisoning. Now sing 'Soft Kitty'."

Sighing, Cassi rolled her eyes but couldn't help a small grin tugging at the ends of her mouth. Taking a deep breath, she began to sing the song slightly out of tune. She wasn't a singer, but the song must have helped because before she knew it, Sheldon had fallen asleep. After pulling her hand away, she screwed the cap back on and wiped her hand on her jeans. She set the tub of vapor rub on his dresser, pulled his shirt down, and covered him with his blue comforter up to his chin.

When he slept, he looked positively normal. This image of him charmed Cassi to do something she would have never imagined during to a sick person. She leaned down and kissed his forehead and whispered a word of thanks for making her fear subside for the time being. After putting his chair back, she slipped through his bedroom window and pictured the day when Sheldon and she could spend healthily together.

* * *

**A/N:** _For some reason I don't like this chapter. I don't know. Maybe it's Sheldon... I think he's a little out of character in this chapter. And just the way it flows, the thing about Cassi's fear... I don't know. What do you guys think? I'd really like to hear your input. =)_

_I'm going to write another fluffy one, and I need a country love song dating back to about the 90s. If you have any suggestions, let me know because I don't listen to country music, especially ones in the 90s. Sooo... Yeah_. xD

**Disclaimer:** _The Big Bang Theory -_ n._ the theory that the universe originated sometime between 10 billion and 20 billion years ago from the cataclysmic explosion of a small volume of matter at extremely high density and temperature _**OR**_ the comedy on CBS created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady. Both, however, are not mine._ :)

**P.S.:** _I got over the Sixth Chapter hump! If you've noticed on my other stories, I've never got over the Sixth Chapter, but for this story I have! Let's pray that it won't stop here, but with Mariabonita's and Nelle07's wonderful reviews and some of my silent readers, I really doubt that it'll stop_. =D


	8. Cross My Heart

From her bedroom window, Cassi could see the skyline of Galveston's annual fair. The top of the Ferris wheel was already scraping the sky, its silhouette black against a sea of blue. Clouds clumped together above the festival like gossiping women, shielding the grounds from the rage of the orange sun. The wind lifted the tune of guitars and pianos and filtered in the smoky aroma of grilled hamburgers and hotdogs through the crack in her window and into her room. The buzz of the first day of the festival animated Cassandra. Her heart raced with adrenaline just thinking about the festivities Sheldon and she would be doing at the fair today. But to get him to agree to go, she practically had to beg on hands and knees.

"Please, please, pleeeeeeeese?" Cassi had begged as she followed him around his kitchen while he made tea. She had clasped her hands together, and when he had turned around to face her, she had modeled the most innocent pouty-face she could manage, equipped with a protruding bottom lip and knitted eyebrows and big, pleading, puppy-dog eyes.

"No," he had answered simply with a quick shake of his head. "It's a breathing ground for drunken hicks, fatty foods, and not to mention the layers of germs that cover every inch of that place. They'll play 'Achy Breaky Heart' about every five to ten minutes, and insufficient supply of bathrooms would cause the men to urinate where ever they please, causing the hygienic level of that place to drop lower into the negatives."

"Then what about all those Renaissance festivals you've attended before? Don't they have public restrooms?" Cassi had asked with a small smirk, thinking that she had had him trapped and stumped for once.

Sheldon had put up a finger. "That is different. In the time of the Renaissance, public bathrooms were of abundance because it was slightly more sanitary then having a chamber pot or cess pit where the person would have to throw his waste out on the streets and, on numerous occasions, the heads of passing pedestrians if they were so unfortunate not to hear the warning 'Gardey loo!'. It would be unfit not to have public bathrooms in a festival that celebrated a time when all they had was a hole in the ground with a wooden seat."

"So you, Sheldon Lee Cooper, used a public toilet at a Renaissance festival?" Cassi had asked with a laugh, finding the humor in her question.

"Good heavens, no!" he had answered quickly as if he couldn't believe Cassi would ever ask such a thing. "I empty my bladder before leaving, and I am careful about how much liquid I consume."

"Okay, okay, so you wouldn't use a public bathroom. Fine," Cassi had backed down, almost surrendering her argument, but then she had looked at Sheldon with her arms crossed and a small smile, making Sheldon slightly shiver beneath his skin. "But let me ask you something. Who rubbed Vapor rub on your chest when you were sick, even though she's deathly afraid of sick people?"

Sheldon had pursed his lips and looked to the side, rubbing the tip of his thumb along the edge of his mug. "You…"

"And who makes you peanut butter and banana sandwiches every time you visit my house?"

"You," he had sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Who gave you that train set last Christmas?"

"You did," Sheldon had answered, defeated.

Cassi had finished with just a smile, but her jittery nerves and dreadful feeling of his possible rejection had spoken differently than her confident façade she had shown Sheldon. There had been a long pause. And as silence had been hovering over their heads, Cassi had been able to see slight changes in Sheldon's expression as he thought out Cassi's invitation. Once he had set down his mug and straightened out his shirt, he had opened his mouth and said:

"Fine."

Cassi had made an odd, high-pitched noise from the back of her throat as she couldn't keep herself from lunging forward and wrapping her arms tightly around Sheldon's waist, making his body tense up. But just as soon as she had hugged him, she had let go and cleared her throat, apologizing for breaking down his barrier and forgetting about his issue with physical contact.

"I promise you won't regret going," Cassi had said with a smile that nearly split her face in two. "Cross my heart!" But before Sheldon could say anything, she had dashed out of his door, and from his window he had seen her run down the street and could only picture her running until she was home.

Now Cassandra was standing in front of her mirror, fixing her wild curly hair. When one curl cooperated, another stuck out that she had to fix, which set off some kind of contraption beneath her curls to unlock another curl to spring out of control. Groaning, she gave up and grabbed a white scrunchie to pull her hair into a ponytail. Taking a bobby pin, she pulled her long bangs to the side of her head and pinned them down so that she wouldn't have to constantly curl them behind her ear. She buttoned up a green flannel shirt over a white tank top, pulled up a knee-length jean skirt, and slipped on a pair of white lace-up vans that had seen their better days.

After entering the kitchen, Cassi opened the refrigerator and grabbed a turkey sandwich she had made the night before. Upon agreement, Cassi and Sheldon made their own sandwiches because of their fear of the food that would be served. While putting her sandwiches in a brown paper bag, she saw that her hands were shaking. It was excitement, Cassi persuaded her mind to think. It wasn't nerves. This wasn't a date. It was two good friends – best friends – who happen to be a boy and a girl, spending the day together at a fair. One happened to be going against his will…

"God this _is_ a date," whispered Cassi. She shook her head, closed her eyes. "No. No. No it's not. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope."

* * *

"Getting ready for your date?" Sheldon heard Missy asked from his door. His eyes widened.

"Date?" he squeaked. "What are you talking about?" After picking off a piece of lint from the shoulder of his green t-shirt, Sheldon turned around and sat down on his bed to tie his shoes. "And I would highly appreciate a knock on the door to signify that you'll be entering. That sort of action was considered a crime in Medieval France and was punishable by hanging."

"Awe," Missy cooed sarcastically. "Too bad we don't live in the medieval times, huh? Of course, with that big head of yours, you'd probably be considered a witch."

"On the contrary," Sheldon said as he leaned up from his shoes with a smug look, "the start of the accusations of being a witch didn't start in the medieval ages. You see –"

"Will you quit lollygagging and jumping around the subject?" Missy pushed off against the door frame to sit next to Sheldon, ignoring the countless times Sheldon forbad her from touching his bed. "This is a date, whether _you_," –she poked him in the chest – "like it or not."

"How do you know?" Sheldon argued as he wiped at the spot Missy poked him. "I've studied Cassi's body language, the way she speaks and her word choice, and even have her menstrual cycle noted, recorded, and filed. If she really wanted to consider this a date, she wouldn't have begged me to go. To her, that would seem pathetic. She would have waited until I asked her. It's all in the facts, Missy."

"You can't use science to study how a girl feels, Sheldon," she said. "There is no formula for that. Cassi might have some underlying feelings about you that _she_ doesn't even know about, and you can't find it in some test tube or books or numbers. That's probably why you have trouble with emotions because feelings… they don't come with equations."

Sheldon looked at his twin sister. She was wrong. He had every note that he made about Cassi filed, and those notes would not betray him. Science was his friend. It would never let him down because facts cannot be wrong.

"And about that shirt," Missy mused out loud, grabbing the sleeve and scrutinizing the fabric. "Totally not a 'date shirt.' You need something that shows that you care, not something that was hanging around the back of your closest." She got up and walked to his closest and opened it. After shuffling through his neatly organized shirts, she pulled out a button-down blue oxford and shoved it in Sheldon's face. "Here. It's sharp, sophisticated… Sexy." Missy winked and smirked before falling in a fit of giggles.

After making a face at his sister, Sheldon took the shirt, holding the hanger and the bottom of the shirt in his two hands, and examined it, simply saying, "Fine."

* * *

Cassi was sitting on her couch when Sheldon knocked on her door in his usual manner. Three knocks and her name. Three knocks and her name. Three knocks and her name. Automatically, she smiled. That little quirk of his made Cassi laugh because it was very… him. She stood up and walked to the door, smiling still until she opened it and saw Sheldon.

He was wearing a blue button-down shirt that was tucked in a pair of black and grey plaid pants. Cassi's heart caught in her throat. He looked… handsome. Cassi always considered Sheldon to be cute. The adorable little quirks he had like arranging his cereal boxes numerically by fiber content, eating only French toast on Wednesdays, refusing to eat with three-tined forks because he refers to them as tridents, the way he cannot detect sarcasm, how he has to find his specific seat anywhere he goes, and everything that makes Sheldon the adorable _friend_ Cassi had. But she had never thought of him as handsome. He was tall, awkward, stringy and lanky, all angles, while she was short, curvy, plushy around the edges, and for the most part, confident. They would look mismatched like two different pairs of socks.

She looked down at faded jean skirt and beat up vans and then back up to him. "I feel underdressed," she laughed.

"You look acceptable to me," replied Sheldon with a straight face.

"Thanks." After locking the door behind her, Cassi dropped her keys in her purse, trying to hide her flushed cheeks. As she passed Sheldon while heading towards his mother's car, she glanced at his pants and grinned. "Nice pants, Sheldon," she teased.

He stopped. "Why thank you, Cassi," he said smugly. "The geometric design caught my attention. The way the –"

Cassi grabbed his hand and led him to Mrs. Cooper's car, shaking her head and grinning. "Come on."

As soon as Mrs. Cooper dropped them off and after she warned Sheldon of the dangers of the fair (watch out for the cords that power the rides, don't talk to strangers, don't pick up anything off the ground, evangelize to the workers who spend their off hours at the bottom of a Crown's bottle), Cassi thanked her for the ride and dragged Sheldon into the festivities.

"I've never been to one of these things before," she admitted after stopping in front of a Ferris wheel. "What's fun? Games? Rides? Evangelizing?" She started to giggle but quickly hide her grin behind her hand when Sheldon gave her a pointed look.

"Why would we –" He stopped, comprehension dawning on him. "Teasing will get you nowhere," Sheldon commented as he crossed his arms.

"Awh, I was just kidding, Shel." She started walking again, towards a duck pond where an old, lively woman was handing a child a stuffed whale. "But what's fun? I'm sure you and your family come here every year."

What Sheldon meant to be a laugh sounded more like a cough or a loud sigh, but he cleared his throat and said, "My mother attempted to make me go one year, but I refused. And after that, she hasn't asked me since."

"What did you do?" asked Cassi, knowing full well that Mary Cooper wouldn't automatically back down and accept Sheldon's refusal.

"I hid in the shed in the back field."

"Well then," said Cassi with a wide grin as she pulled Sheldon forward, "there's a first time for everything."

The day was filled with Cassi dragging Sheldon everywhere and him reluctantly agreeing to be pulled around. Cassi won Sheldon a small drumming monkey that she said could be placed next to his stuffed monkey, and, in turn, Sheldon agreed to ride the Ferris wheel, Cassi's favorite ride.

"Even though it's big," Cassi had said when she was looking up towards the clouds as the wheel turned their carriage to the top, "it's majestic, graceful, simple. All it does is turn and turn and turn, and you'd think you'd get dizzy or bored. But I don't. I could stay on here all day because each time the wheel brings me to the top, I'd see something new."

Sheldon had just stayed quiet, tuning in and out of Cassi speech and waiting for the ride to be over. There was no telling how many greasy hands touched the painted metal, whether this contraption was built carefully and every screw was bolted tightly. This ride could have collapsed any second and _BAM!_ it wouldn't have been Cassi's favorite anymore.

But they got off safely and were now sitting at a picnic table beneath a large, white tent where food was being served. Night was approaching; the remains of the Sun's rays were already turning the clouds into pink cotton-candy. The lights hung from the tents and connected to the rides made the fair look alive and bright. The crowd dwindled down, and where families with children were, newlyweds, honeymoon stage romances, and singles replaced them. In the background the twang of a man's voice filled the tent with a song about Vegas and "going country."

As Cassi watched the Sun sink deeper under the horizon, she took a bite of her sandwich and sighed. "This was a great day," she said. She turned her face to Sheldon biting into his peanut butter and banana sandwich.

"If you subtract the man urinating near the carrousel," Sheldon began after taking a sip of his water, "the heat, the crowd, crying babies, inflatable toys and plastic trophies, rusty and untrustworthy rides, and all of the calories floating around the inside of this tent from the fryers and cotton-candy machines, than I'd have to agree."

Cassi made a face. "It wasn't that bad, was it?"

The male's voice changed to a woman singing "Strawberry Wine," and all around Cassi and Sheldon, couples got up and walked to the small field that surrounded the stage, wrapping their arms around each other as the swayed to the music. Cassi tried to ignore them by focusing her attention on Sheldon, but it was hard when she could see out of her peripheral vision the content looks on the couples' faces.

"I will admit," Sheldon said, "the drumming monkey will look good next to the stuffed one."

She smiled. "Told you."

Sheldon was about to say something, but he closed his mouth and looked up. Curious, Cassi turned around and saw a young gentleman twisting the rim of his hat in his hands and smiling. He had sandy hair and big brown eyes, a bulk build, and a farmer's tan.

"D'ya wanna dance wit me?" he asked in a thick Texan accent.

Cassi was a little caught off guard, but she hid it with a reassuring smile. "Thanks for asking…?"

"Kevin," he finished.

"Thanks for asking, Kevin," Cassi said, "but I'm kinda here with someone." She glanced at the side, signaling to Kevin who she was referring to, but when a blank expression passed his face, she poked a thumb in Sheldon's direction.

Kevin took a glimpse at Sheldon and then back to Cassi. His forehead crinkled in confusion but shrugged and walked away, possibly trying to find another girl to swipe off their feet. Too bad someone already did that to Cassi.

"You didn't have to do that," said Sheldon when she turned back around.

"Of course I did," she replied. "I couldn't leave my best friend alone like that. What kind of person do you take me for?"

Sheldon was silent for a moment as he twiddled his thumbs. He looked as if he was thinking of something to say but didn't know how to word it. After he placed his hands in his lap and looked up at Cassi, he said, "The kind of person who feels like dancing."

"Sheldon, this day is as much as yours as it is mine," Cassi reassured him. "I think I forgot about that when I was forcing you to go everywhere that I wanted to go. So if you don't want to dance, we don't have to dance."

Another slow song was being sung, "She's My Kind of Rain" a man said before singing. Sheldon look out at all the couples just swaying side to side in a circle. If that was all Cassi wanted to do…

Sheldon stood up. "I'm sure it's not as bad as when that child vomited nearly a foot away from me."

He could see her eyes sparkle. "It wasn't a foot away," she said with a grin. "More like a yard."

Sheldon's heart rate was increasing after every step he took closer to the dance floor. His stomach felt as if it was clenching and releasing some sort of warm sensation across his body, and it couldn't have been his sandwich. He made sure all of the ingredients were under the expiration date.

Cassi stopped at the edge of the dance floor and turned her body to Sheldon. He gulped, and she grinned and tried to fight down a giggle. He nervously offered her his hand and she took it, and she placed her hand on his shoulder and he rested his hand on her waist.

"This isn't so bad," Cassi commented when she looked up at Sheldon and saw that he was completely uncomfortable and nervous. "But I want to ask you something."

"What?" he squeaked.

"Why did you dress all nice?" she questioned. "I expected you to wear some sort of vintage t-shirt and a long-sleeved shirt under it with the sleeves rolled up. Like you always do."

Sheldon looked towards the stage, trying to hide the red tint on his cheeks. "Missy insisted. She said it was a date, which I find highly unlikely. From observation I've seen that couples hold hands along with practicing other forms of public display of affection. They share food, feed each other, which I've never understood. Touching the other's food… They have to eat that!"

Cassi pulled Sheldon's face to her again and looked him in the eye. "Do you want this to be a date?"

His eyes widened. "A Catch 22," he simply stated after he recomposed himself. "If I say yes, then that means that I want some sort of relationship. If I say no, I might disappoint you."

"You won't disappoint me, Sheldon," said Cassi with a small grin.

Swallowing hard, Sheldon thought about his answer. To be honest, he didn't want a relationship with Cassi. Not the kind that involved intimacy. He was content and pleased with what they had now. A friendship. Nothing complicated. No complex emotions. Nothing but enjoying being in each other's company without fluttering hearts, nausea, sweating palms, or the need to touch each other. But then again, the way blood rushed to every spot Cassi touched, his pounding heart, his flipping stomach, and his slippery hands proved otherwise.

Finally deciding, he looked at Cassi, took a deep breath, and said:

"No."

She let go of his hand and hugged him before he could see her sad smile and the spark in her eyes fade away. "Me neither."

When she pulled away, their cheeks brushed together and their faces were inches apart, their noses almost touching. In his eyes Cassi could see only hints of disappoint buried beneath discomfort and anxiety from being so close to her. Maybe if she leaned in closer, that disappoint for something might turn into desire for something else…

They were so close they were practically breathing the same air when suddenly…

"Sheldon!" Mrs. Cooper called from the tent that served the food. She held his Green Lantern lunchbox in her hand with a firm grip as she walked toward them with it raised in the air. "I hope you're letting the Holy Ghost dance between ya'll!"

Cassi and Sheldon quickly separated. Sheldon ducked his head low while Cassi tried to conceal her amusement.

"There was enough for the Holy Trinity, Mrs. Cooper," Cassi said as she walked to Sheldon's mother.

Mrs. Cooper gave her a skeptical look. "You're father must be wondering where you are."

"Yeah," she agreed with a nod. "You're probably right." When Mrs. Cooper turned her back, Cassi latched arms with Sheldon's and whispered, "If you plan on telling Missy about your day, I'd leave off the ending."

"You know I'm a terrible liar," he answered.

"You'll do fine," she said. "Cross my heart."

* * *

**A/N:** _It is 11:35 at night, and I just finished. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... I'm tired. Okay, now that I'm down whining... How did you like the chapter? The song doesn't fit with their situation; it doesn't flow; it looks like an Eighth grader wrote it; and again I feel that Sheldon is out of character... I really need to start reading some Jodi Picoult again. She's the one that gave me the creative flow for the first few chapters, and now it's like I'm running on empty. And I'm sorry it took such a long time to update. This is my last week of high school, I have exams next week, and I'll be graduating in May. Yeah... I'm exhausted and stressed. To be honest, I don't know when the next update will be because the laptop I use to write my stories is for the school, and I have to give it back. Then I have to buy a new laptop for college, and I don't know when I'll be able to buy one. I'll _try_ to squeeze in another chapter, but I can't make any promises. I'm _really_ sorry, but don't worry. I'm _not_ quiting on this story_. =)

**Disclaimer:** _The Big Bang Theory -_ n._ the theory that the universe originated sometime between 10 billion and 20 billion years ago from the cataclysmic explosion of a small volume of matter at extremely high density and temperature _**OR**_ the comedy on CBS created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady. Both, however, are not mine._ :)

**P.S.:** _The song "Strawberry Wine" is sung by Deana Carter, "Achy Breaky Heart" by Billy Ray Cyrus, and "She's My Kind of Rain" by Tim McGraw. It was torture trying to find country songs because a lot of the songs are so cheesy, but... I kinda like "Strawberry Wine" and "She's My Kind of Rain." I know... It surprised me, too. Okay, thanks for reading, and thanks to Mariabonita and Nelle07 for their reviews!_ =D


	9. April First

"Sheldon," Cassi said in a serious tone, "I've decided not to go to college…" She waited for him to explode on the other end of the phone.

"Are you crazy?" Sheldon exclaimed, his Texan accent becoming thick as honey. "Do you want to be dumb as dirt? Not to mention being associated with people who work mundane jobs like waitressing? I-I refuse to be a friend of yours if you skip the only true schooling you'll ever have. Skipping college… Why don't you just live in a box, beg for food, and-and adopt a ratty, diseased dog off the street now? It'll give you a start of what will come next after high school. Why do I –"

"Sheldon," Cassi interrupted with a tiny giggle.

"Cassandra, this is no time to laugh," Sheldon said sternly. "Thinking this decision is at all humorous forces me to question your sanity."

"Sheldon," she said again, laughing, "April fools."

There was a pause on the other end of the phone.

"By the way," Cassi continued with a smirk, "your country accent becomes thicker when you're angry. G'night!"

* * *

**A/N:** _I know it's very short, but I felt like I needed to give you guys something before I give the laptop back to the school. Think of it as a filler to what's to come. I really need to start reading some more Jodi..._

_I thought the line "Not to mention being associated with people who work mundane jobs like waitressing" was funny because he becomes friends with a waitress in the future... AAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! Yeah, it's not funny. I think I've fallen off the deep end, folks. My final exams are here and draining me 'till I'm just dry, dry bones. I've gone delusional... loony. Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Okay..._

**Disclaimer:** _The Big Bang Theory -_ n._ the theory that the universe originated sometime between 10 billion and 20 billion years ago from the cataclysmic explosion of a small volume of matter at extremely high density and temperature _**OR**_ the comedy on CBS created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady. Both, however, are not mine._ :)

**P.S.:** _I was going to have Cassi say "Very cute" before saying "G'night!" but decided against it because it didn't really seem like something she would say... What do you think?_ :/


	10. Sweet Dreams

Fairy tales give little girls the wrong idea. Men aren't the only ones who search for their beloved; they're not the only ones whose love is unacquainted, who stare adoringly at their hopeful lovers wishing that she would stare back. They are not the only ones who think, "Not only does she not know I exist, she is oblivious to the love I have for her also." Women, Cassi has learned, could just as easily hope to catch the eye of the man who has stolen their hearts.

The night was dense. It was as if the darkness was suffocating her, squeezing her dry. Or maybe it was because Cassi was sneaking out of her house to visit Sheldon that made her think the night was choking her. The anxiety. The excitement.

"Teach me about the stars," Cassi had told Sheldon. They had been sitting on the steps to Cassi's front door. She had been ripping a blade of grass down the middle then throwing the two pieces in the air and watching them twirl down to the ground like two ballerinas. "Will you?" she had asked, turning her head to him. He had looked at her from the corner of his eye, the bags under them hanging like two purple crescent moons, and then straight forward again, playing with the straps of his Velcro watch. _Shhhht! Shhhht! Shhhht!_

"Stars are just exploding balls of gas made of mostly hydrogen and helium," he had answered before yawning. "Nothing special."

"Nothing special, huh?" she had repeated while slowing nodding. "Then if they're nothing special, then why don't you show me what makes them... not-so-special?"

Sheldon had turned to her with widened, fearful eyes, and shook his head. "Mother would never approve. Staying outside after eight... N-No. She'd have my bottom faster than you can say 'Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.'" He had suddenly looked embarrassed. "At least that's what she says..."

Pulling an orange curl behind her ear, Cassi had rested her elbow on her knee and cupped her chin in the palm of her hand. "Does she say the Devil comes out at night? After eight?"

Sheldon had looked away, a very faint blush creeping up from behind his green collar.

"Sheldon, you're sixteen years old," Cassi had said. "You're a child genius who has received his first PhD at the age of fourteen."

"Which is exactly why I think this is a bad idea."

But she had persuaded him. She had bargained with him, saying that he could have her first addition of The Green Lantern if he snuck out of his house to watch the stars and to teach her about the constellations. They had agreed that Cassi would meet Sheldon at his window with her comic book, that he would already have the window cracked opened just enough for him to hear Cassi call for him.

It wasn't only about the stars that Cassi decided to sneak out for. She had made that up to spend time with Sheldon because she knew she only had so many opportunities to see him and spend time with him. She knew Texas wasn't the place for him. It was the home of rodeos, BBQ festivals and competitions, belt buckles the size of grapefruits, and Ford pickup trucks. They say that everything is bigger in Texas, but there was no room for a boy genius. Sure, letting him go will be hard, but she wanted to hang on to him until she had to let go, and she hoped that, that wouldn't happen any time soon.

Even though the darkness was straggling her, it was a perfect night. Above her the sky was painted black. The color looked as if someone ran their palm across it to push out all of the wrinkles; the black dripped from the sky and onto the Earth, staining everything until morning. And as she looked up, she saw the stars. It was as if the sky cracked open and diamonds spilled out and scattered everywhere, far behind the horizon. She took a deep breath.

"Sheldon," she whispered loudly when she got to his window. She waited for a stir or a response, something that indicated that he had heard her. "Sheldon," she said a little louder when nothing from behind his window made a noise.

After waiting a little while longer, she started to worry that his mother found out about their plan because she knew how Sheldon was about lying. So she slipped the packaged comic through the crack of the window, slid her fingers under the window pane, pushed it up, pulled herself through, and carefully landed on the other side, picking up The Green Lantern.

The room was dark and cold, the kind of cold that bit at your skin, so Cassi knew Mary Cooper had put the AC on. She looked around, and from the corner of her eye she saw a tiny desk lamp illuminating Sheldon's desk and the body that was slumped over a neatly organized binder and a book with pictures of constellations. When Cassi reached his desk and stood beside him, she glanced over the notes that had possibly put Sheldon to sleep.

"The Big Dipper: made of seven stars, located in the northern sky near the pole, accompanied by the Little Dipper. Also known as the Great Bear and the Little Bear or Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. Shaped like soup ladle. Look up at 60 degrees for best view. The two stars that form the end of the Big Dipper's bowl point directly to the North Star or Polaris, which is the end of the Little Dipper's handle.

"Virgo: Sun passes through this constellation at the end of September through the beginning of October. Second largest constellation..."

And that was where his notes ended. Running her finger across the words, she couldn't help but grin. First reading the notes she knew he was planning on bringing the binder with him. Seeing him reading his notes with his night vision goggles on almost made her giggle, but she swallowed it down so she wouldn't wake him up.

From his bed Cassi grabbed a blanket and draped it over Sheldon's shoulders. She grabbed the pen from his hand and ripped off a sticky note from its little cubby and wrote:

_Sweet dreams_

After tucking the note and the comic under his binder, she whispered a good night to him and slipped out of the window.

After a while you get tired of chasing, of hoping, of yearning. After a while the dreams of being together at last with your love becomes old and faded like an old photo. It dies as you grow older and become wiser and tired of dealing with the pain of heartache. Cassi fears that one day that might become true for her. But there are many stars to wish upon. One of them is bound to bring her wish come true.

* * *

**A/N:** _Hey guys! I'm back with a.... *drumroll* ....MAC! GAH! I am so happy! I'm an Apple girl, so Bill Gates can suck it._

_So for my return, I hope I didn't disappoint. It's not as good as the first chapter, but I haven't been reading any Jodi. I'm been reading Arch Enemy by Frank Beddor which is the last installment in The Looking Glass Wars trilogy. Anyway... Off subject._

_I know this kind of thing happens a lot. Girl likes guy, but guy doesn't know she exists or doesn't know her true feelings. That happens, so I hope Cassi isn't turning into a Mary Sue or, if she was already one, turn into an even bigger Mary Sue. I mean, if you like your best guy friend or, in Cassi's case, your best friend, you'd want to hang out with him especially if you know he won't be with you for very long... Right? RIGHT? I'm sorry. I just get so paranoid with the whole Mary Sue thing. I never know if mine is or not. Okay, so enjoy! And thank you all for reading this story or chapter even though you might not have liked it. _:)

**Disclaimer:** _The Big Bang Theory -_ n._ the theory that the universe originated sometime between 10 billion and 20 billion years ago from the cataclysmic explosion of a small volume of matter at extremely high density and temperature _**OR**_ the comedy on CBS created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady. Both, however, are not mine._ :)


	11. Clouds

The wind brushed against her skin and weaved through her hair; the sun brightened up the field that they were in, a field that she had just found on a whim as she dragged him along just to find the perfect spot. And she had. The space was fenced in by oaks; green grass went on for miles. Above them the clouds moved slowly across the sky like elephants. The perfect spot to close your eyes and imagine.

"What are we doing?" Sheldon complained as he tried to catch his breath. "Mother will be wondering where I am."

"You told her you were going for a walk with me," answered Cassi with a wide grin. Her eyes seemed to twinkle and dance with excitement when she suddenly stopped and sat down on the grass. She lifted her hand to her forehead to shield the sun from her eyes and patted the spot next to her.

Sheldon hesitated, motionless, except for his eyes which darted from Cassi to a spot on the grass, and then back. "I don't have proper sun protection," he said, making up excuses.

"There are clouds," Cassi said, gesturing her hand to the sky. "Come on! This'll be fun!" She grabbed his hand and yanked down, forcing Sheldon to stumble and fall to his knees.

Giving up, Sheldon sat cross-legged. He stared blankly at Cassi, who smiled from ear to ear, her eyes just small slits because of her puffy cheeks. Looking up, Cassi watched the clouds being slowly sculpted by the wind like delicate clay pottery. She sighed, closed her eyes, and laid on her back. She then lifted her arm and pointed to a cloud.

"That one looks like Mickey Mouse," she giggled. "Almost four states away, and I still find a hidden Mickey." She turned her head to Sheldon, who was sitting very still, as though he would break into a million pieces if he moved an inch. "What do you see when you look at the clouds?"

Sheldon looked down at Cassi with his same blank expression. "I see nothing but tiny drops of condensing clear water vapor and/or ice crystals that settle on dust particles in the atmosphere."

She rolled her eyes, but smiled nonetheless. "Then maybe you need a better perspective. Lay down on the grass."

"Absolutely not," Sheldon protested immediately, shaking his head. "Grass stains are difficult to wash out. And there are deadly insects that can crawl in my hair and beneath my clothes, lay eggs under my skin, or find a home in my stomach."

"You're already sitting in the grass," Cassi pointed out with a smirk. "They could have gotten on you anyway." When she saw his blank expression turn sour with fear, she hurriedly said, "Sheldon, I reassure you that there is nothing that can harm you in this grass. I've been lying in fields like this almost my whole life, and not once have I gotten sick. Coming from someone who fears illness, I think I know what I'm talking about."

Cassi watched Sheldon's face slowly turn softer and softer until he rolled his eyes and laid on his back next to Cassi. She grinned again and looked back up at the sky.

"What do you see now?" she asked.

Sheldon took a moment to answer. He finally said, "Tiny drops of condensing clear -"

"No, Sheldon!" Cassi huffed. "What shape is the cloud? Like... Like a square or a dog or something."

"I see only a cloud. Nothing more."

"Sheldon," Cassi said sincerely and linked their fingers together. She looked up at him and waited for him to turn his head before she continued. "You have a brilliant mind. It over flows with knowledge and facts, but just like our bodies there is a time for work and there is a time for fun. I fear that your brain will overload -"

"That's impossible, Cassi," Sheldon interrupted with a short snort.

"Use your imagination, Sheldon," she said as if she didn't hear his comment. "Somewhere, underneath all the organized files of math and science and history, there is your imagination ready to burst at the seams. Everyone has one, but it takes a really special person to set it free no matter how old he get and no matter how bad the world seems to be around him. It's not hard," she continued with a grin. "Just close your eyes, relax, and when you open them again, let your mind wander. Loose control. Just... Imagine."

In his eyes Cassi could tell that he was really listening to her, but he tried to play it off by sighing and rolling his eyes. He faced the sky again, stole one last glance at Cassi, and closed his eyes. The muscles in his fingers relaxed and finally his body seemed in melt against the grass. Cassi looked at him, anticipation rising, and waited for his eyes to open once more.

Beneath his eyes lids, Sheldon saw equations float in pitch black. He tried to listen to Cassi, to push the logic towards the back of his mind and let his imagination go free, but it was harder than it sounded. He hadn't truly used his imagination in a while, hadn't seen ordinary objects like clouds as something that they're not. But once he allowed him body to relax and the last equation danced across his lids, he felt his mind be filled with something he couldn't explain. Instead of all angles, there were curves, and instead of grays, blacks, and white, there were colors like blues, oranges, yellows, greens, and purples. He felt something that resembled a spark of electricity instead of the familiar dull feeling. Tingling from head to toe, he finally opened his eyes.

He pointed to a cloud above them and said, "I see a monkey."

Cassi's face broke out into a smile, and they continued to seek out the shapes in the clouds together.

* * *

**A/N:** _Hey! What's up everyone? I just got back from Disney World, and I had this stuck in my head through the whole trip. I hope you enjoy, and don't ever lose your imagination. It'll be the only thing that'll keep you going through these tough times. That's my opinion anywhere. G'night, day, evening, morning... prevening... whatever, and thanks for reading._ :)

**Disclaimer:**_The Big Bang Theory -_ n._ the theory that the universe originated sometime between 10 billion and 20 billion years ago from the cataclysmic explosion of a small volume of matter at extremely high density and temperature _**OR**_ the comedy on CBS created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady. Both, however, are not mine._ :)


	12. His Personal Hero

She saw him get pushed off the jungle gym. She witnessed the punching and kicking that he absorbed as if his flesh was used to that kind of treatment, as though being beaten up was just another daily activity on his extremely organized schedule. She watched the overgrown sixth graders plummet their fat fist into the pit of his stomach and their mutant-sized feet kick his back so hard she was afraid a bone might break. But all she could do was watch. Helplessness overwhelmed her and washed over her like a wave, rendering her motionless. Fear locked her joints into place. How could a petit fifth grader stop a herd of sixth grade boys? She had heard of how elephants were afraid of mice, but she was no mouse and those boys were no elephants. Like a lion they would smell her fear and devour her like the cowardly lamb that she was.

With one last kick in the gut, Sheldon coiled himself in like a snail and buried his face in his filthy hands. Still glued in place, still feeling the fear throbbing against the bottom of her heart, Cassi noticed that not one person had had the courage to defend the poor boy that had been drowning in a sea of fist and sneakers. Including herself. Sure, the parents had looked around to see where his mother or father had been, but then, Cassi guessed, when they had realized that he might not have had a guardian, he must have been troubled and therefore had deserved the beating. This was Texas after all, Cassi thought, where people believed that meat and potatoes were the only food group, where the punishment for killing a man was being killed, and where parents believed that they had the right to beat their children in order to "keep them in line."

When Sheldon started to get up, something inside Cassi broke the spell that locked her in place, and she immediately dropped the soft served ice cream she held in her hands and ran to his side. She nearly tumbled to a stop, but her stubby knees planted into the dirt when she fell by his side, preventing her from falling forward. Bruises already began to rise to the skin; cuts and scratches lined his ankles, face, and arms; dirt covered every part of him and matted his hair, and she knew he must be cringing on the inside. Dirt was one of his worst enemies, and she cursed herself for not bringing a towel to wipe his face clean.

He was on his side, trying to pick himself up with his elbow, wincing at the pain it caused him, which made Cassi flinch and grimace at the way he contorted his face to stay perfectly emotionless. Even at a time when any nine year old would burst into tears and call for his mommy, Sheldon Cooper was determined to stay inexpressive, void of any emotion, a blank slate. But Cassi knew better. After a few months of becoming familiar with Sheldon, she knew what to look for when she tried to find even a hint of emotion in him. And now that she knew what to find in his features, Sheldon wasn't as expressionless as he believed to be.

When something pleased him, his left ear moved up. If he became angry, his nostrils flared like a dragon's. If he was surprised or caught off guard, his eyebrows would rise a fraction up his forehead. And when he was upset or sad, something Cassi witnessed more times than she would have liked to, Sheldon would hunch over even more so than he did, as if the weight of whatever was bothering him built a brick house on his back. But pain, physical pain, was the first, and Cassi wasn't quite sure what to look for. So she did the only thing she knew how to do. She used her mother's words, wrapped a strong arm around his shaky shoulders, and let his head rest on her lap.

"One time when I was six," she said, her hand fluttering up to his hair as if it belonged there, "I was being picked on by some boy because I had red hair and freckles all over. When I would get home from school, I would look in the mirror and picture myself without my freckles and with blonde hair. One day when I was doing that, my mamma came into my room and caught me with a pair of scissors, attempting to cut off all my hair, but she stopped me in the knick of time. So when she asked me why I would do a thing like that, everything that I kept bottled up from the first day that boy made fun of me came spilling out. By the end of the story, the tears became so thick that I could barely talk. And you know what Mamma did?" she asked, but she wasn't expecting an answer. "She held me like this and said that no matter how hard we try, we can't change who we are. And she said that some people might not like you for it. But then negatives and positives balance each other out, so for every person who doesn't like you, there's a person who wants to be your friend."

When Sheldon didn't move, when all he did was lay limp on her lap with his eyes casted down, she supposed that he was reflecting on what she said. At least, that was what she hoped because it worried her that he wasn't moving. But when he blinked, all the worry washed away and she continued to part his hair the way he liked it.

He stirred and gingerly, slowly sat up. When he looked at her, he stared, doe-eyed and confused. Maybe he didn't understand what she was trying to say or maybe there was another bully behind her, waiting for her to turn around so that he would dig her in the ground with his feet like he did Sheldon. But neither was the case. Sheldon, hesitantly, lifted his finger to Cassi's cheek and brushed away a tear. When she saw the dirt on the tip of his finger turn into mud, she hadn't realized that she had been crying.

Maybe it was grief that had caused her tears. It smelled bitter and it stung her throat. But has hard as she tried to wipe away the evidence that she wasn't as strong as Sheldon thought she was, the tears, those little betrayers, still collected at the corner of her eyes and fell like rain against her cheeks.

"I'm sorry," she sobbed, her voice thick with grief and tears. "I'm sorry I didn't help you. I'm sorry I didn't beat those kids to a pulp like you thought I would. I just stood there and watched like a scaredy-cat." What kind of friend watches on the side lines while another friend gets the snot kicked out of him? A true friend would stick his chest out and roar like a tiger until the bullies ran away, yelling at each other how weird that kid was for having a friend that roared. A really good friend, a best friend, would endure the beating for his friend, taking all the punches and kicks. Friendship, Cassi thought, was kind of like a practice marriage. You sacrifice; you fight; you make up; you do it all again. It might not be as intimate - she blanched at the very thought of being in love with Sheldon - but you still go through the basic routine.

But when Sheldon touched Cassi's hand in an awkward I'm-trying-to-help-so-is-this-right gesture, she knew she was forgiven.

* * *

Sheldon knew his heroes. He could tell you exactly what happened to the Green Lantern in the very first edition, page-by-page. He could recite the dialog between Batman and the Joker when Batman found out that he had created his own arch nemesis. He could even tell you how many times Superman saved Louis Lane from the very first time he saved her to the present. He often found himself daydreaming about Wonder Woman, even though he continuously told himself that he was above the primal thoughts of males because he was superior in intelligence, and, he knew from countless studies of hero versus villain that intellect always won over brute and force.

But looking Cassi in the face, seeing her cry because of him, because he was hurt, because she couldn't save him, he now understood that heroes don't wear capes and masks and spandex. They cry and bleed and bruise like everyone else. And before him, a crying girl he knew wanted nothing more than to protected him from his enemies and his nightmares, was the only hero he wouldn't have the chance to read in a comic book. And he was okay with that because she was the only edition out there, and she was all his. His personal hero.

* * *

**A/N:** _Hey! What's up you guys? I've just finished reading _Second Glance_ by Jodi Picoult and I can feel those creative juices a-flowin'. As you can tell. Or maybe not. Maybe you think this chapter is crap. Well, if that's the case, I'm glad you read it anyway... I don't know why, but I do. So I hoped you enjoyed, and g'night, evening, afternoon, prevening, morning, whatever!_ :)

**Disclaimer:**_The Big Bang Theory -_ n._ the theory that the universe originated sometime between 10 billion and 20 billion years ago from the cataclysmic explosion of a small volume of matter at extremely high density and temperature _**OR**_ the comedy on CBS created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady. Both, however, are not mine._ :)

**P.S.:** _The way Cassi feels about Texas does not in any way reflect on how I feel about Texas. It is strictly her opinion, so, please, do not get offended. Thank you._ :)


	13. The Butterfly Had Landed

I won't say that I was attracted to you from the first time I met you. That's for fairy tales or romantic comedies starring Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. I didn't think you were cute at all. Grant it, I was only ten at the time and any boy at that period of my life was thought of as "icky". I had to get use to you, adjust to you quirks. The way you correct me on my speech annoyed me to no end and still does, but I've grown to get use to it and try harder to watch what I say around you.

Your ego is the size of Texas, but than again, everything _is _bigger in Texas. And when you made me sign that Friendship contract... I thought it was a joke at first but soon came to realize that, unfortunately, it wasn't. But I found this as a challenge, an equation not even you could solve, and I couldn't pass it up. And once I dug deep and saw you for who you truly are - this insecure, awkward, kind guy that no one had the chance to know because they didn't have the patience or the desire to - my thoughts turned from "I wonder if he would like to climb the tree in the field next to my house?" to "I wonder what his lips feel like? Are they soft and sweet or rough and chapped? Is his touch gentle and light with apprehensiveness or awkward and ticklish with nervousness?"

I know you're a Southern gentleman. Your mother and father taught you well. You open doors without second guessing as if it was just another reflex like blinking or breathing. And even though my dad hates it because it makes him feel old, you say "yes sir" and "no sir" and "yes ma'am" and "no ma'am". Call me a old fashion, but I love it.

And now, almost eight years from when I met you, I'm like a second skin. Your name isn't said without mine, and vise versa. It's as though God created me with you in mind. But the term Best Friend is only inches away from what I feel we truly are. I can almost grasp the word, but it's like a butterfly - once I get close enough to reach it, it flutters away. I guess I just have to wait until it comes to me.

Whenever you're away at college... Man this sounds cheesy, but the cheesy stuff is usually true. Well, whenever you're away, I feel like a part of me is missing. When I call you, only a fraction of that piece returns until we hang up and that connection is lost, and when you return to your house, I feel like I'm the one coming home. Being apart makes the heart grow fonder. Too bad I'm the only one feeling the detachment.

My stomach flips whenever I see you, hear you. You make me laugh without even trying. You make me think and ask questions. You're different from any other person I've met. I love the way you part your hair, the twinkle in your eye when something works for an experiment, the freckle on the tip of your ear, the way your twang surfaces in your speech when you're upset or annoyed, your obsessions like labeling everything and organizing things numerically... I love...

I... I-I love you, Sheldon Cooper.

I think the butterfly just landed.

* * *

**A/N:** _Sorry I'm so late! Things have been happening at home and I just haven't had the chance to write anything, so for this piece I just... wrote. No plans, no organizations, no nothin' except... writing. Basically it's Cassi just reflecting and finally coming to terms with her feelings for Sheldon. Nothing big. Eh. And no, she's not talking to him. I thought it would be more personal if I wrote her in first person and put Sheldon in second person. So I hope you enjoyed, and I promise that the next chapter will be in third person again. And I want to thank all my reviews! Sorry I haven't been very good with updates. Hopefully this made up for it... maybe? Thanks for reading_! :)

**Disclaimer:** _The Big Bang Theory -_ n._ the theory that the universe originated sometime between 10 billion and 20 billion years ago from the cataclysmic explosion of a small volume of matter at extremely high density and temperature _**OR**_ the comedy on CBS created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady. Both, however, are not mine._ :)

**P.S.:** _I'm pretty sure I'm going to write a chapter about that Friendship contract._ XD


	14. The Friendship Contract

It was Saturday, one out of two days of the week that is reserved to sleep as late as one liked. A Saturday should only start at nine in the morning for a ten year old girl, who then pours herself cereal and watches cartoons. But someone had other plans.

It was seven in the morning when Cassi heard a knock, hasty and impatient, but she ignored it, thinking it was only a dream. But when she heard it again, she groaned and curled into herself, burrowing deeper into her soft sheets. Who, she thought, in their right mind would be up this early?

But when the knock was slamming against her nerves, she groaned louder and angrily pulled the sheets off of her. Not caring if the person on the other side of the door saw her in cow pajama bottoms and one of her brothers' university sweatshirts, she marched out of her room and to the front door and opened it to reveal a very irked Sheldon.

"Sheldon?" she said, surprised.

"Do you know how many times I've knocked?" Cassi stepped aside to let her friend in and closed the door quietly as to not wake her father.

She sighed. "What are you doing here?"

Sheldon didn't answer, but simply stood up straighter and handed Cassi a stack of papers.

Curiously, she took the stack from his hand and glanced over it. Tucking a piece of stray hair behind her ear, she finished the first page and reeled back.

"Wh-What is this?" she asked through a chuckle, handing the papers back to Sheldon.

"From this day, we have been..." he trailed off and cleared his throat. "We have known each other for three months. I believe this...erm... relationship is getting serious, so I wrote down and printed out a copy of a Friendship contract. Here-" he pointed to the sheet of paper on top - " I have made suggestions that will surely make this friendship run smoothly. We will go over it together, and you will sign to everything that you agree with. If you don't -"

By this time, Cassi was having difficultly trying to hide her laughter behind her hand and suddenly burst out with a guffaw. "Sheldon, this is a joke, right?" She looked up and met a serious expression, one that showed no sign of glee or mischief. She stopped laughing. "Tell me you're joking."

Sheldon simply walked to the kitchen table and sat down. When Cassi reluctantly sat down beside him, he produced a pen from his shirt pocket and handed it to Cassi.

"Now," he began when Cassi took the pen, "The first page states that we will agree that Captain Picard is superior to Captain Kirk; however, The Original Series is far better than The Next Generation."

"I can't agree to that," Cassi answered stubbornly, shaking her head.

Sheldon whirled his head around with an expression of shock mixed with confusion. "You mean to say that you think Next Generation is better than the Original Series?"

"No," she said, "I believe that Captain Kirk is better than Captain Picard."

Sheldon jumped, his eyes wide, as if the very words Cassi had spoken jolted him with electricity. "I don't believe you. On what planet does that make any logical sense at all? Captain Kirk is-is a womanizer and not to mention creepy. He's always smiling, especially if Mr. Spock is near him! Remember in the episode 'Shore Leave' when Kirk thought Spock was massaging his back?"

Cassi nodded. "My dad has all the seasons on VHS. I've seen it, but Kirk... He would be more likable if Shanter wouldn't have ruined his character."

Sheldon pointed a finger at Cassi. "Don't disrespect William. He did a wonderful job with the character. It's not his fault but the writers' for giving Kirk such a...a creepy personality." He groaned. "You only like him because you're a girl. You only see the physical aspects , not the mentality, of a person. His charm is strong enough to get through a catho-"

Cassi held her hands up as if in defeat and smiled when she said, "Okay. Okay. Calm down."

Sheldon sighed. "So will you sign it?"

"No."

"Oh for the love of..." He threw his hands up, and when they came down again, he shuffle through the papers. While searching, he mumbled to himself until he shouted a sign of eureka and proudly and confidently shoved a piece of paper in Cassi's face.

"'I, Cassandra Shea Penna,'" she read, ignoring how Sheldon knew her middle name for she had never told him, "'here by agree that the Seventh Doctor played by Sylvester McCoy shall be known as the best Doctor in the series.'" She calmly placed the paper down and cleared her throat. "You know that saying 'You never forget your first Doctor'?", she asked, and she saw Sheldon's face fall. "He wasn't the one. Dad has the fourth season with Tom Baker. He's the best one to me. I can't agree to that."

Sheldon started. "That... That Neanderthal? That scarf wasn't a symbol; it was a way to distract people from his horrid acting skills." Sheldon huffed. "We are getting no where in this agreement."

"Okay! Okay!" Cassi said defeatedly. "What else do you have? There has got to be something in there that we can both agree on." She was beginning to get irritated. Why did they need a contract to their friendship? Would they not be friends forever? Though, she thought, if he keeps this up, that might happen. Friendship shouldn't be organized by words and agreements; it shouldn't be something that you sign for. It should be whimsical and free-flowing, going wherever their imagination takes them. But with Sheldon... It can only be described as different.

"Fine." He took another sheet of paper and read, "'We both agree that we shall never use the word 'rubbish' in any conversation we have together.'"

Cassi couldn't help but laugh. "Why on earth not?"

"I believe that term is reserved for British people, and any American who uses it develops a sort of 'Better than thou' sort of persona. Also, now that I think of it, don't use the word 'yeehaw.' I know it isn't in the contract, but the word has a sort of ignorance and illiteracy behind it."

Cassi paused and thought for a moment. "Yeah," she said. "You're right."

At least they were getting somewhere.

* * *

**A/N:** _Before I say anything, I want to announce a few apologies._

_1. I'm sorry it's late._

_2. I'm sorry it sucks._

_3. I'm sorry there's not more humor, more agreements, and more... awesomeness in this chapter._

_I couldn't think of anything that would go into the contract. All I could think of was TV shows and comic books, but I kinda wanted to branch out from those because that's not the only thing they're interested in. I don't know. If you have any suggestions, any at all, please put them in a review or message me. I'll make this chapter longer._

_I just haven't been really creative lately. I can feel the ideas drying out, and I'm thinking of ending this soon. Well... not soon soon. The last chapter might be twenty or twenty-five. It can't be, like, twenty-three or something like that because I'm just really picky about things like that_. XD

_I know you guys won't like the last chapter because _I_ don't like the idea, but it's the only way for a sequel. I mean, I _DO_ like the idea, but... I don't because it's sad. Okay. I need to stop talking. Hoped you liked it because that would make one of us or several or whatever... And thanks to my reviewers! You mean a lot to me_! :)

**Disclaimer:** _The Big Bang Theory -_ n._ the theory that the universe originated sometime between 10 billion and 20 billion years ago from the cataclysmic explosion of a small volume of matter at extremely high density and temperature _**OR**_ the comedy on CBS created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady. Both, however, are not mine._ :)


	15. Bearing the Fall

"Sheldon's in the hospital."

That's when Cassi's heart had dropped to the floor, along with the phone that had gone slack in her hand.

Now she was in her bedroom, sitting cross-legged on her bed, and she didn't remember how she got there. She remembered hearing Missy's voice and the crash of the phone when she let it slip from her hand, but the rest was blank. A hole in her memory. An automatic shield to mental distress. If you can't remember something, did it really happen?

She couldn't even remember how much time had passed between the phone call and when her dad got home. Her mind was blank, her body, numb. These feelings were familiar.

It was when her dad called out to her, frantic, when she snapped out of her daze and took a deep breathe as though she hadn't been breathing for hours. Her eyes were dry like air had been blowing on them, and it took Cassi a minute to realize that she needed to blink. And so she did. Rapidly.

"Cassi!" her father yelled. She would hear the strain in his voice.

"In my room," she whispered, but to her, it was the same as yelling.

"Cassandra!" Dennis busted through the door. His breathing was heavy, and she could see he was beginning to sweat. "Do you know how many times I've been trying to call you? I thought you left or were kidnapped! And the phone's broken! What did you do? Don't you ever do that-" He stopped. "What's wrong?"

Cassi shook her head and pulled her lips in a straight line, keeping this secret behind her teeth and beneath her tongue. It tasted bitter, but if she didn't talk about it, if she didn't remember, it didn't happen. She bowed her head, letting her wild curls create a curtain around her face.

"I know that look," he said solemnly while stepping in front of Cassi, and knelt down. "Tell me what happened. Please, _kardoula mou_."

She avoided her father's eyes and pulled at a cuticle instead. If she talked about it, would it make Sheldon's situation worse? Would it curse him and somehow make him worse? She didn't know what caused Sheldon to go to the hospital, but it must have been serious because Missy's voice was cracking through the phone and she sounded anxious. Those were two things Cassi learned that never happened to Missy. Missy was free-spirited like herself, but she tended to be more careless where Sheldon's logical thinking was rubbing off on Cassi.

"Cassandra." The anxiousness in her father's voice broke her out of her thoughts.

"Sheldon's in the hospital," she whispered so lowly that Dennis had to lean forward to hear her.

It took a minute for Dennis to let the information soak in. She could see her father try to recompose his expression so that he looked completely emotionless, so that he looked stronger in case his being worried might upset his daughter even more.

"Do you know why?" he finally asked.

Cassi shook her head. "No. It took me by surprise and I dropped the phone and then I came to my room and I don't know how. And now I'm just sitting hear thinking the worst thing possible!" She stopped to breath and recompose herself. "Papa," she whispered through the thick tears that were climbing up her throat. "What if he's dead?"

Dennis looked away, but Cassi could still see her father fighting to keep a straight face; she knew what he was thinking because she was thinking the same thing. The atmosphere was all too familiar - gloomy, nervous, like they had slipped into a black hole and wondering _When will we hit the bottom?_ But her family was still falling. You never hit the bottom.

"How about," he said through a deep breath, "we call Mrs. Cooper to see if it's okay to visit him this afternoon?" He made sure to word his sentence as though he knew Sheldon was still alive.

Cassi nodded slowly like she was still considering it, and then nodded her head more determinedly when she made up her mind.

"Can you call?" she asked. Her voice was so tiny and distant, that Dennis would have thought it was someone else speaking if he wasn't looking straight at her.

And so he nodded and kissed her forehead, then walked out of her room with a weak smile that didn't reach his eyes.

She wasn't going to cry even though she felt the tears threatening; she wasn't going to be over-dramatic with the 'oh woe is me; everything horrible happens to me; my life is devastation and woe' crap. She was strong, and to prove it, she was going to stand up, grab her backpack, and stuff it with anything that Sheldon would need to occupy his time at the hospital.

So she stood up and walked purposefully around her room, grabbing Batman and Green Lantern comics, a Rubik cube that collected dust because she could never figure it out, pencils and paper in case his mathematical senses were tingling and he needed to write something down, a Star Trek book he probably already has, and a few other odds and ends that she could fit into her school bag.

As soon as she zipped up her bag, her father had walked through the door with a reassuring smile that still never fully reached his eyes.

"Planning to run away?" he tried to joke as he sat down on her bed.

Cassi shook her head with a small smile and tried to lift the bag on her shoulder. She didn't anticipate it to be very heavy, but with all the comic books and graphic novels she stack in there, it was a surprise that she could lift it.

"No," she said once she got both straps securely on her shoulders. "This is for Sheldon..." She left the sentence trail off as she bit on her lower lip.

"The hospital said that Sheldon's going to be fine," Dennis said. "We can go see him now if you want."

Awkwardly adjusting her bag, she slowly pondered before agreeing and followed her dad out to the car. She climbed in and laid her bag on her lap.

Have you ever drove or walked towards something that you know you were going to dread, something that you know will tear your world apart piece by piece until you're left with ashes? It's like going through syrup - slow. You're desperate to get out and your patience wears thin, waiting for the journey to be over, but all you could do is ride it out. But not Cassi. She wanted to be in that syrup. Once she saw the sign welcoming them to The University of Texas Medical Branch, she wanted to stay in that syrup forever and never come out. This was a bad idea.

She hadn't even noticed that her father had parked, turned off the ignition, and was now crouching beside her with a hand holding a strap on her bag.

"Cassi," he said, pushing a piece of hair behind her ear, "there's nothing to be afraid of. Sheldon's okay."

She looked up at the building and saw above it gray clouds that weren't there before. Up close everything looked so much darker. Scarier. Before her the glass of the sliding doors shattered and repositioned themselves into rows of hungry teeth like a shark; the windows blinked and scrutinized her, watching her every move like a starving predator ready to strike. This menacing, dark laugh seeped into her mind and then she heard screaming. She felt as though she was sprayed with the Scarecrow's fear toxin because everything was exaggerated; the colors, more intense; shadows, longer and darker.

"Cassi," the eery, derisive voice whispered. It grew louder, more forceful, like the words themselves were wrapping around her shoulders and shaking her until finally she opened her eyes and saw her father slack-jawed and breathing heavily.

"What is wrong with you?" he asked as he wiped away a tear from her cheek. "You were screaming like crazy."

Frantically, she looked around her. No shark teeth, so blinking windows, no laugh, no voice. She wiped away any tears with the back of her hands and breathed, letting the remains of what she saw flow out of her with shaky breathes.

"I think we should go home," she whispered.

Her father nodded and drove her away.

She was furious with herself. How can she show her face at the hospital now? She had screamed like a lunatic! It was a surprise that the doctors didn't take her away to the loony bin, strap her down, and shoot her with a sedative. She totally over-reacted, but... The images... They were so real. She could practically feel the hot breath of the monster down her neck; the raspy voice was tickling her ear. And there it was. Again. That voice. This time it was higher in pitch and sounded like a...

"Telephone, Cassi!" her father yelled for her.

She opened her eyes and slipped away from her bed and walked towards her father's bedroom where the spare phone was kept. Opening the door, she found her dad by his end table with the receiver cradled between his cheek and shoulder.

Upon hearing his daughter come in, he said into the phone, "Okay, Missy, she's here. Y-... Oka-... I will-... Missy, she's right-..." He paused, pursing his lips. "Bye, Missy." He finally handed the phone to Cassi, but not without giving her a pointed look, and left.

Hesitantly, she put the receiver to her ear, knowing the insults will fly as soon as she said, "Hello?"

"Where have you been?" Missy asked angrily. "You said you were going to come visit, and you're not here, so I thought something happened to you too, but then your dad said you freaked out! Like you had this episode or something!"

Cassi took a seat on her father's bed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Yeah, I know," she sighed. "It isn't like me, you know, to freak out like that, but the hospital... It, like, came alive or something and it really scared me. Like this big haunted house."

"Oh." Cassi knew that, that word was only something to hide your true feelings behind, like it shielded Missy's shock to Cassi's confession.

"Yeah." There was a long pause, with only their breathing keeping the silence at bay. But finally, Cassi was brave enough to speak first. "Did... Did Sheldon mention me or something?" She could feel the butterflies fluttering around in her stomach.

"No," Missy replied after a brief pause. "But I can tell that he's wondering where you are."

Courage. It was something that wasn't easy to muster up when you don't have a purpose. Like trying to squeeze toothpaste back into its tube, it's impossible, but with something like a funnel to guide it back, you need something to channel that courage and guide you. And Cassi now had that cause, that purpose, to visit Sheldon because he wanted her there.

After she finished speaking with Missy and saying that she'll try again, Cassi hung up the phone and entered her bedroom to pick up her school bag. She must be out of her mind, but if what Missy said was true, she concluded that she had no choice; she knew that Sheldon's hard-earned trust would be lost.

"I want to try again," she told her father, standing determinedly in front of him and blocking the TV.

Dennis grabbed the remote and turned the TV off and, looking up at his daughter, slowly considered the idea.

"Are you sure?" he asked hesitantly. "You don't have to. I'm sure Sheldon will understand."

Cassi shook her head. "No," she whispered, "he won't."

"All right," Dennis sighed and heaved himself off of the couch. "But this'll be the last time."

And twice that day, they drove towards the hospital.

Cassi decided to close her eyes all the way to the hospital. Going back to her childhood beliefs, if you can't see it, it isn't there. But with the image of the razor-sharp teeth and piercing stare of the windows tattooed to the back of her eyelids, she had a difficult time deciding whether she wanted to keep her eyes closed or not.

"Cassi."

She jumped when she felt her father's hand on her shoulder.

"I'm fine," she croaked out. Clearing her throat, she said more smoothly that she was okay.

Nervously getting out of the car, Cassi pulled the straps of her bag onto her shoulders and dug her nails into the fabric. When her father rounded the car, she immediately clung to his side and pressed her face against his shirt. In an instant Dennis wrapped a protective arm around his daughter's shoulders and acted as a crutch to guide Cassi into the gaping doors of the hospital.

It was the smell that clued Cassi into knowing she made into the building. The overwhelming oder of latex gloves and disinfectant with the residue of sourness engulfed her mind and made her feel dizzy, but her persistence repressed the stench and with the help of her father, she prevailed and march onward.

Her mind was set on the destination; worrying about the journey and what was around her would certainly make her want to turn back. So she clouded her mind with what she was going to do with Sheldon once she entered into his room. Watch him solve her Rubik cube; read to him the books and comics and graphic novels that she brought; possibly, if she had the courage, ask him how he had ended up in a hospital bed.

When she felt her father stop and attempt to unlatched her fingers from his shirt, she knew that they were in front of Sheldon's room.

"You can open your eyes now," her father helped, but she just shook her head.

"Not yet," she said against the sound of her own knees knocking together.

"Come on," her father reassured softly, "there's nothing to be afraid of. Sheldon's fine."

She felt her dad reach over and heard the handle swivel around and the door open wide. A breath hitched in her throat when she heard the steady beeps on Sheldon's monitor and a small gasp that came from either Mrs. Cooper or Missy, for it was too high-pitched to come from Mr. George. Palms began to sweat and heart started to pound so hard she thought it would leave an imprint on her chest. But then her farther laid a steady hand on her shoulder, and that courage suddenly came flooding back.

So, bravely, she peeked under her long lashes and saw feet rushing towards her.

"You made it!" Missy exclaimed excitedly as she squeezed Cassi into a bear-hug and nearly pulled her off the ground.

The intensity of Missy's hug caused Cassi's eyes to pop open and what she saw in the bed she didn't like.

Nearly Sheldon's entire left side was covered in gauze, but she could still see tiny traces of red spots across his body. When Missy let go of her and started talking, Cassi let the words slip past her, her full attention on Sheldon. Hesitantly, she stepped forward. Another step. And another. Until finally she was on the other side of the bed, across from his family, staring down at him as he slept.

An image flashed past her, but she shook her head to make it disappear. Sheldon was alive. Badly hurt, but alive, so gratitude overwhelmed her. She felt something cold press against the back of her knees so she turned around to see that her dad had pulled a chair for her to sit down, and she did.

"He killed my guinea pig," Missy suddenly said, but when Cassi pick her head up to say that she was sorry, she saw that Missy was smiling. "I guess that's karma for chasing his cat away after it shredded my favorite blouse. Ironic that a cat named Lucky got ran over my a train." She made a face before adding, "I didn't mean to kill it."

Cassi laughed, and the anxiety she felt gradually started to melt away.

An hour later the Coopers went to the cafeteria; George Cooper said that they hadn't eaten anything all day. They had invited Cassi and her father to come along, but while Dennis agreed, Cassi declined and said that she wasn't hungry. So after Mrs. Mary told Cassi to keep an eye on her son, to make sure he was comfortable if he woke up, and to get down on her knees every few minutes to pray for his recovering, Cassi ignored the later and pulled out a Batman comic from her backpack.

It was Batman issue #457 when Tim Drake, the third Robin, officially joins forces with Batman. It was an old issue, one she got last year in December, and it wasn't her favorite because she didn't think Batman ever really needed a sidekick, but she didn't read the covers of the comics she put into her bag. She just pulled and stuffed.

She had gotten to the middle of the story. The Scarecrow had just thrown his new toxin, "Essence De Trauma," in the face of Tim and Vicki, and after Tim wiped his eyes with the back of his hands, he saw before him the two previous Robins, Dick Grayson and Jason Todd. He was paralyzed with fear, frightened by the two images because he was afraid of disgracing the legacy they had made, but the two Robins encouraged Tim not to fight the fear but to live with it and confront it and reminded him that feeling fear didn't mean that he couldn't still act. She was about to get to the part where the Scarecrow got pounded by poetic justice, but she heard a stir and then a weak:

"'Master of Fear'? You could have brought something a little more appropriate."

She peeked over the issue and saw Sheldon looking at her with hooded eyes. With speed she didn't know she was capable of, she shut the comic and threw it beside Sheldon's legs and took his hand tightly in hers.

She looked around the room, trying to find something to say, but nothing poked out of the many words she knew except: "You're an idiot." Too bad she couldn't suck those words back in.

Sheldon's eyes widened before he spoke. "I beg to differ."

"I-I..." she stammered, shocked as well by her own words. "I didn't mean it. I'm sorry."

"You should be," he remarked. "Thinking that, I would have to question your sanity."

Even though Sheldon didn't mean it as a joke, Cassi still smiled. But when she saw that Sheldon glanced down at their hands, her grin vanished and she quickly removed her hand from his and softly apologized.

"So, uhm... What happened?" she asked just to stab the awkward silence that had surrounded them.

"I tried to make a CAT scan," he answered matter-of-factly, "but got radiation burns in the process."

"Oh." Suddenly, a thought struck her. "That's how you killed your sister's guinea pig?"

There was a beat before Sheldon answered. "If my mother would have supplied me with laboratory rats like I had asked, I wouldn't have had to use Missy's guinea pig."

Cassi stifled a giggle. She looked down at him, at the gauze that were covering Sheldon's burns and preventing them from getting infected. She didn't want to think about what kind of burn was under there, but shuddered nonetheless at the thought. It could have been worse, she kept reminding herself. He could be in a body bag or in a coffin or somewhere six feet under. But here he was wide awake, acting exactly like the Sheldon she knew.

"Sheldon," she said weakly. She avoided his gaze for a moment, but then stared at him, seeing a tiny hint of concern pass over his face. He must have never heard her voice so tiny before. "I'm glad you're okay."

He squirmed awkwardly in the bed. She, too, felt the atmosphere turn violently from light playfulness to heavy seriousness.

He cleared his throat, breaking the silence. "Have any better comics in there?"

He might have been trying to lift her mood, or he might have been attempting to clear the silence away from the room and any feeling that he felt from his heart, but either way, Cassi couldn't help but grin ear to ear before bending over the arm rest of her chair and pulling out a book from her bag.

"Better," she said, revealing the cover of Diane Duane's novel, _Spock's World_.

A hint of a smile brightened Sheldon's face, which melted her from the inside and caused her to smile back.

She gladly opened the book to the first page and started reading, "_I am Spock...I hold the rank of Commander in the Starfleet of the United Federation of Planets; I serve as First Officer of the Starship _Enterprise_. I am the son of two worlds. Of Earth, whose history is an open book...and of Vulcan, whose secrets have lain hidden beneath its burning sands...Until now..._"

Cassi might still be falling along with her father and her brothers, but now she knows that there will be someone in your life that will make the falling bearable by holding your hand all the way through.

* * *

**A/N:** _Hey, what's up you guys? Loving the long update? If so, good, at least one of us is. I don't know... I think it feels rushed, but I was already on page seven or eight. And now I really think Cassi is a Mary-Sue... You know what? I don't care. It's 3:15 in the morning, so... Nagh._ xD

_I'm going to be writing more about Sheldon's childhood stories that he's told the guys, and Mee-Maw will make her glorious debut thanks to Mariabonita's wonderful suggestion. I just need to think of an idea for the chapter._

_So tell me what you think. Hate it, love it, whatever? Thanks for reading and thanks to all my reviewers! You guys are amazing_. :)

**Disclaimer:** _The Big Bang Theory -_ n._ the theory that the universe originated sometime between 10 billion and 20 billion years ago from the cataclysmic explosion of a small volume of matter at extremely high density and temperature _**OR**_ the comedy on CBS created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady. Both, however, are not mine._ :)

**P.S.:**_ I don't own _Spock's World_ (though I desperately wish I did), so I don't know if what Cassi is reading is actually the first paragraph in the book. I tried to find at least a page of the book on the internet, but that was the closest thing I could find. Finding it on Wiki didn't boost my confidence... But whether it is or isn't, it's staying in the story. Oh, Spock, how I love thee. *dreamy eyes* ... *coughs* Okay, yeah, anyway... Yeah._ o_o


	16. Everything Happens for a Reason

Everything happens for a reason; it just takes a wise person to seek out what that reason is.

Cassandra knew this quote very well and practically lived by it; why dwell on the past when the present can bring just as much happiness? Why look for the future when the present is a gift to be cherished because you are there at that very second breathing, living, being? With that in mind Cassi had to come to terms that being put in Home Economics instead of Advanced Literature (because so few people signed up for the advanced class, the school board had to therefore drop the class all together) was just another trial to overcome, just something that happened for a reason. Something good had to come out of it. She just knew it.

It was difficult to get used to the rowdy teens in her class. Because of the effortless essays about yeast, the straightforward work sheets pertaining the different kinds of grain, and simple tests involving matching a picture of a kind of stitch to its correct name, all of the teenagers who wanted a "knock-off" class signed up for Home Ec. These were the people who were found smoking in the bathrooms and sounding the fire alarm, the people who Cassi tried very hard not to judge but couldn't help but think that they were throwing their lives away by swimming at the bottom of a Crown's bottle. These were the people Cassi had to bear everyday at noon.

The first semester centered cooking: chopping, mincing, baking, frying (definitely frying), boiling, grilling, etc. Because of her poor cooking skills - making sandwiches and pouring cereal were the most she could do - Cassi had difficulty. She once thought that if she put a tray of muffins in the oven for five minutes but just increased the heat, they would bake faster. Instead, she got a face full of black smoke and made the classroom reek of burnt dough for days. Her classmates thought it was hilarious and constantly snickered behind their hands until the news grew old and Cassi, again, made another mistake: she forgot she had been boiling water while she was chopping bell peppers and the water overflowed onto the teacher's feet. That earned her a detention.

The second semester was a breath of fresh air - sewing. Cassi had never sewn before, but after a few weeks of tests on stitching and the mechanics of a sewing machine, she discovered that she was quite good at it. Give her a needle and some thread, and she could patch up a hole in a pair of pants in a matter of minutes; and not only was she good at it, she also found that it relaxed her. The low hum of the sewing machine or the basic rhythm of hand stitching calmed her to the point of falling asleep not because of boredom but because she felt the stress of the day dwindle down to merely nothing when she sewed.

Cassi had known Sheldon was visiting Galveston weeks before his arrival, and it just so happened that he was arriving on his birthday. So to celebrate Cassi decided to put her newly discovered talent to the test and sew him up a surprise. It took her weeks to finish because she wanted the gift to be perfect and every stitch to be in line, and it was a Friday, the day before Sheldon came home, when she was finally satisfied with her work. She held it up to her and smiled. It was perfect.

The next day it was raining. Not very welcoming, considering that Sheldon came home today, but Cassi just grabbed an umbrella, rolled up her jeans, and stepped out to her dad's car.

Driving was a necessity, she recited Dennis' words in her head; it was forced upon her as soon as she was of legal age to drive, and when she turned sixteen, she received her driver's license. Driving to Cassi was nothing special, despite what her classmates thought. It wasn't freedom because nothing was free. Everything came with a price. However, it did come in handy when she didn't want to get soaked in the rain.

As she drove toward Sheldon's house, the thunder boomed and crashed above her, growing louder the closer she came to his house, like a warning to turn back and wait until tomorrow. But Cassi, blind by determination, ignored it and kept going.

A flash of lightening cracked the dark sky in two, followed by the boisterous laugh of the thunder, as Cassi rolled to a stop in front of Sheldon's house. She picked up the umbrella and opened it after opening the car door, clutched her gift to Sheldon to her chest so that it wouldn't get wet, and bolted to the front door, slipping in the mud, until she finally reached the front door. The thunder boomed again as she closed the umbrella and knocked, this time rattling her bones and making her shudder.

"We don't want any!" Cassi heard Missy's muffled voice, but she could hear a smile ease its way into her friend's tone.

Cassi smiled. "You don't want dripping wet muscle men in tight speedos? Okay!" She made ready to leave the front porch when she heard "Wait!" and the lock of the door open.

A very eager Missy poked her head out and excitedly twisted her head side to side until she looked at Cassi with a definite pout. Cassi couldn't help but laugh at the gullibility of her friend.

"Unless you magically produce those muscle men out of thin air, I'm not letting you in," said Missy. She purposefully crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the door frame as if expecting Cassi to what she had asked.

Cassi laughed. "Sure. Let me just get my wand and bibbity-bobbity-boo you a naked Brad Pitt."

Missy arched her perfectly plucked eyebrows and gestured with her hand as though inviting Cassi to do just that. "Well?"

"Awh! Come on, Missy," Cassi whined. "Look! I have Sheldon's birthday present! I made it myself." She held out the gift to her friend's face as evidence.

Missy looked over the present and gave an improving nod. "You did this? Well, it's really good, but Sheldon doesn't like gifts."

Cassi snorted and held the gift by her side. "As if I don't know that. It's just a little something. No big deal."

Looking down at the present and pointing at it, Missy said, "It looks like you bought it, not made it. Seems like a pretty big deal to me." Thunder suddenly boomed in the background, making both of the girls jump. "Well, it doesn't matter. Come inside."

Missy ushered her friend in, saying, "I don't want you to blame me for catching a cold and then have _Sheldon_ blame me for letting you in. Lord knows I'll never hear the end of it."

Cassi chuckled, knowing that it was true; Sheldon and Missy would banter for days. Sheldon, saying that Missy was unaware of the germs Cassi could have brought in with the beginning of a cold, and Missy, countering her twin's verbal attacks with her own common sense and bitter wit. It would be like WWF, but with words.

Settling down her wet umbrella and slipping off her muddy shoes on the linoleum floor, Cassi saw Missy open a tiny hall closet and pull out a towel.

"Thanks," Cassi said as Missy handed her the towel, and began to dry off her arms, face, and feet, because some water had soaked into her shoes.

"Sheldon's in his bedroom," said Missy, and Cassi thanked her again before heading off down the hall.

As she passed by Mrs. Cooper's room, Cassi heard a faint mumbling of the Our Father coming from the TV. The Catholic Channel - something that Mary Cooper probably had on twenty-four/seven. Cassi could even see her doing the mass aerobics in front of the TV - sitting, standing, kneeling, repeat. And she stifled a laugh at the image.

When at the end of the hall, in front of Sheldon's door, Cassi could feel the adrenaline pulsing through her. She knocked, and once Sheldon would open the door, she would shove his present in his face and say, "Ta-Da!"

But there was no answer.

So she tried once more.

And once more, there was no reply.

Making a face, Cassi nervously rearranged the present under her arm and hesitantly clutched the door knob with her free hand. She swallowed hard, fearing Sheldon would shout at her for entering his room without permission, but she figured that if he was asleep, he wouldn't know she was in there and she would leave the gift on his desk with a note. But then, she thought, another reason he wouldn't answer the door was because he didn't want to see anyone, and barging in when he was in a sour mood would not make matters any better. However, Missy would have told Cassi that he wasn't in the mood to see anyone at the moment, wouldn't she?

Sighing heavily, Cassi closed her eyes and wished - begged - that he was fast asleep underneath his covers as she cracked opened the door wide enough for her head to slip through.

His room was dark, save for the desk lamp that illuminated his slouching shoulders as he slumped over his desk. Something twisted uncomfortably in her stomach as she watched him vigorously scribble on something while running a hand impatiently through his short hair, something Cassi figured he had been doing a lot of because his hair was already standing straight up. He then suddenly threw down his pencil and angrily gripped his scalp, viciously starting to pull out his hair. She started to panic.

"Sheldon," she said as she stepped into his room, just to make her presence known.

He immediately let go of his hair and slouched over his desk again. "Go away."

The way he said it was like a punch to the heart - demanding, forceful. Quick but painful. She swallowed the feeling down and tried again, determined.

"Sheldon, I brought you -"

"I said go away." He had stopped writing. Even though he tried to appear calm, the words dripped with bitter severity.

Cassi widened her eyes. Never had she seen Sheldon so angry, and the sight truly frightened her. The way he was sitting in his chair, like he would shoot up to his feet at any second given the reason to, made her stumble back a bit towards the door incase she needed a quick escape. Holding the present in front of her, hugging it to her chest, she tried one last time to get through to him.

"Sheldon," she said, sugarcoating his name with as much sweetness as she could muster, thinking that maybe hearing meekness would change him back to normal.

But unfortunately, she was wrong.

Sheldon slammed his pencil down hard on his desk, making both Cassi and the lamp jump. Viciously he swiveled his chair to face Cassi, his ice blue eyes piecing through the darkness and right through her, sending a warning chill down her spin. He didn't move from his chair, but glowered and spat with more venom than Cassi thought he had:

"Jesus Christ! I knew you were stupid, but I didn't think you were deaf as well!"

Cassi's jaw dropped. Another punch in the heart, sending pain to the very tips of her fingers. Was that what he thought of her? Stupid? After all the times she had helped him with bullies and experiments, he had just brushed off her advice like mere pesky flies and thought that she was stupid? Against her will, tears prickled the corner of her eyes and threatened to tip over against her cheeks, but she didn't want to show what a blow Sheldon had impacted on her. So she sucked in a shaky breath and threw his present in his face.

And with as much venom that dripped from his words, she hissed, "Some Spider Man you are." And she slammed the door behind her.

Sheldon jumped and blinked at the sound of the door slamming. He rubbed his face where his gift hit him, then bent over to pick it up from the ground. With a sigh, he stood up and turned the lights on to see that he was holding a striped pillow in different shades of green, blue, red, orange, and yellow. They weren't bright, but looked more like the kinds of colors one finds in a shaded forest: olive greens and navy blues with speckles of burnt reds and oranges and a golden yellow as the warm sun. Warm colors.

What he didn't understand is why Cassi was so worked up on this pillow. It looked like something she bought at Wal-Mart. He turned it over to see if there was some special embroidery on the back, but it was blank. With a shrug, he threw it on his bed, and plopped into his seat again. He was about to start working on his thesis again when his sister kicked open the door, fuming and pointing a quivering finger at him.

"What is _wrong_ with you?" she demanded, storming up and towering over him.

Opening his mouth to call for his mother, Missy beat him to it and clamped his mouth shut between her finger and thumb. He squirmed and widened his eyes before scrunching up his nose in disgust. Who knew where Missy's hands have been?

She pulled on his lips and he squeaked. "I'll ask again. What the hell is wrong with you?"

He started to talk before realizing he could only speak in mumbles. Rolling his eyes, he pointed to Missy's fingers and gave her a look.

His sister narrowed her eyes, as though she was debating whether or not he would squeal to their mother, but finally, though reluctantly, released his mouth.

He stretched his mouth wide to get feeling back to his lips and ignored Missy's comment about being a baby.

"I was making a break-through in my thesis, and she was interrupting my thoughts," he started to explain and even gestured to his binder to prove his point.

"That is no excuse to yell at her," his sister countered bitterly.

"If I hadn't had yelled at her, she wouldn't have gone away," he explained further. "And if she wouldn't have gone away, my string of thoughts would have been ruined, and my thesis would have yet again gone to a stalemate."

Missy curled her fingers into fist and snarled. "And _that's_ not an excuse to call her stupid because you know very well that she's smart!"

Sheldon sniffed, almost like a tiny laugh. "'Smart' is no match for 'genius'."

He watched as a multitude of emotions passed across Missy's face: fury, shock, confusion, sorrow. He almost regretted what he had said, almost wished that he could some how suck those words back in, but being a man of logic, he knew that was impossible and therefore did not dwell so much on it. But then again, he couldn't push away a prickle at the back of his neck, the tight pang in felt in his chest, and an uncomfortable heavy feeling in his stomach like he was bloated. Was this what guilt felt like?

"You're insane," she whispered, her tone bland and emotionless.

Sheldon narrowed his eyes. "You know very well that mother had me tested."

She turned and was almost by the door when she suddenly spun around and snatched the pillow from his bed.

"Do you know how long this probably took her to make this?" Missy asked angrily, shaking his present in his face.

Sheldon's eyes widened. "She made that?"

Something must have erupted in his sister, something that had caused her to growl as she slammed the pillow down on Sheldon's head repeatedly. Instinctively, Sheldon threw his arms up to shield his face and begged Missy to stop.

"Ow! Ow! Stop it! Quit! Mo-"

Missy pulled the pillow away from Sheldon's head and gestured with her fingers that she would clip his mouth shut again. He quickly sucked his lips into his mouth.

"Of course she made this!" she hissed. "Why would she go to the store and buy you a pillow? You are just so stupid sometimes!" Immediately she resumed hitting Sheldon with the pillow until he grabbed her by the wrist and made her stop in mid-swing.

Being stronger than he looked gave him many advantages, which he used in only special occasions such of this one. He saw his sister's face jump with surprise, but that didn't bestow him with a feeling of victory.

"Apologize to her," Missy said after shaking off her shock.

Sheldon quirked a brow. "Sheldon Lee Cooper does not apologize."

His sister's eyes blazed with angry fire, making him slightly cower down into his seat. Her dark hair framed her cheeks, casting shadows on her face and making her glare that more menacing.

"Sheldon," she said calmly, "this is not how you want to spend the last few weeks here, with a strong friendship broken apart because of something that _you_ said. All of those obstacles that you had to face - speaking to another person, letting that person get to know you, being a friend to that person, things that you aren't good at - will mean _nothing_ if you don't fix this. All of that would be worthless."

When Sheldon didn't respond fast enough for her, Missy quickly threatened to pound him with the pillow again, but he flinched and caved.

"Okay!" he squeaked. "Just..."

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. This was going to be hard, but it was either apologize and admit that he was wrong, or always having to watch his back around his sister and keep one eye open when he slept.

"Just... Just tell me what to do."

That night Sheldon walked to Cassandra's house after much torment and bullying from his sister. Thoughts raced across his mind about what he would say even though Missy preached again and again what should come out of his mouth and what should stay locked up in his head. He could feel a lump develop on the back of his head from Missy's fist; all he had said was "this is stupid," but his sister would have none of his pessimist attitude.

He confidently thought that Cassi would forgive him. He didn't see her as one to hold grudges. And besides, he couldn't deny what he said was true; Cassi wasn't the sharpest person he met because, let's face it, no one he has met in past years came close to his genius. He blinked and shook his head gently. Those were the kind of thoughts Missy warned him about. The kind that should be locked up.

Because of the rain the grass in the field next to Cassi's house was damp and muddy, so instead of taking the short-cut, Sheldon continued down the sidewalk. From afar he could make out the silhouette of her house and single light coming from her bedroom window - a savior beckoning him and urging him on or an enemy warding him off. He hoped for the former.

Cassi's window was above him now. He looked up but didn't hear any movements. Maybe she was asleep or reading. Well, he certainly didn't want to disturb her, but as soon as he made to turn around, the lump on the back of his head throbbed like a warning. He narrowed his eyes and growled. He could faintly hear his sister's threat:

"Do it, or that lump of your's will get a brother."

Frustrated, he sighed and picked up a pebble by his foot. Getting ready to extend his arms backwards for the pitch, a thousand cliche teen romance movies flashed before his eyes.

He groaned. "This is stupid."

But before his lump could pound with pain again, he threw the pebble at Cassi's window and missed by a mile.

Slouching, he let his arm fall limp to his side and glared at the window.

"That was anti-climatic..."

So instead of picking up another rock and knowing he'll only hurl it at another wood panel instead of the window, he stepped up to Cassi's window, stood on his toes, and softly tapped on the glass with the tip of his finger. He immediately heard a muffled gasp and hesitant footsteps drawing closer to the window, so to reassure Cassi that he wasn't some stranger, Sheldon softly called out her name and told her who he was.

The footsteps quicken and before Sheldon knew it, the window was opened and Cassi was above him, leaning out of the window, and looking at Sheldon with wide eyes.

The awkward silence that followed was not pleasant. As if on cue, the crickets began to chirp, which Sheldon did not find too funny.

"What d'ya want?" asked Cassi, watching Sheldon through lidded eyes but nonetheless looking quite perturbed.

Sheldon looked away. His pride heightened in strength, but the fear of sister and the possibility of losing Cassandra haunting him gave him the courage to say the one thing he thought he would never have to say.

"I'm sorry."

Sheldon looked back up at Cassi, but the expression he envisioned her to make -a broad smilie with a twinkle in her eyes- wasn't there. Instead, Cassi stared straight at him, frowning, her eyes blank.

He didn't understand. Why wasn't she happy for him? He had just said the most impossible word in the human language! He had just confessed that he was wrong and what he had said was... was unforgiving.

"You really hurt me," she finally said, a flash of anger crossing her face.

"I know." Sheldon began to get nervous. This was not going well; she wasn't saying anything that Missy said she was going to say. He was on his own now, and hopefully he wouldn't screw it up.

"No... I don't think you do."

Sheldon blinked. Her voice had suddenly turned cold.

"Why can't you just forgive me?" he asked. He hated how he was almost pleading her to take him back as a friend.

She pulled her eyebrows together. "Because, coming from you, you could have meant what you said." She paused and narrowed her eyes. "Did you mean it?"

Sheldon hesitated; his lips tried to form words but his voice just wasn't working. He was never a good liar, and Cassi knew it.

"I'm going to have to think about it." And with that, she pulled the window shut, not even considering Sheldon's fingers that would have been crushed if he hadn't pulled away in time.

To say that Sheldon was disappointed in Cassi for blowing this whole situation out of proportion would be an understatement. He was furious that she couldn't forgive him for such a minor slip up, and that she would go as far as almost crushing his fingers was appalling. Never had he seen her so angry, and he didn't even want to think about how Missy was going to take this. He cringed at the thought.

After he climbed through his window (it was after one in the morning, and it was obvious that sneaking out was not permitting in his house), Sheldon got ready for bed. As he buried beneath his sheets, something that Missy said popped up in his mind:

"_This is not how you want to spend the last few weeks here, with a strong friendship broken apart because of something that _you_ said_."

Sheldon groaned and shoved his face in his homemade pillow. Missy was right.

Everything happens for a reason, but unfortunately it's not always for the better.

* * *

_**A/N:** Heyyyyy... Yeah, sorry for the long wait. It's been an... emotional few weeks. Because I'm heading off to college on Sunday and my life will now be dominated by work, work, and more work, I'm only going to post one more chapter - the end of the story. If I have time, I'll type up some bonus chapters just so I can get an even twenty. I'm so anal about that sort of stuff. And if I'm not having frequent panic attacks because of the big, scary college, I might have the last chapter up by Thursday. If not Thursday, then I'll definitely have it up by Friday. But don't expect anything... wow. Not that this story was very wow to begin with. _xD_ But because I'll be in a rush to finish it, I won't have time to actually make it...er... wow. Haha!_

_Well, it's 2:30 in the morning and I need sleep. I hope everything had a great day, and if the day is still going or just started, I hope you have a good one_. =)

**Disclaimer:** _The Big Bang Theory -_ n._ the theory that the universe originated sometime between 10 billion and 20 billion years ago from the cataclysmic explosion of a small volume of matter at extremely high density and temperature _**OR**_ the comedy on CBS created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady. Both, however, are not mine._ :)


	17. End

Grudges are anchors. They keep us grounded to a certain memory. A hateful memory. The stronger the hatred is, the deeper the anchor, and the less likely one would go through the trouble of pulling that anchor out and forgive. But some might not be ready to pull. They just have the urge to push.

Cassandra Penna was not ready to forgive Sheldon for what he had said. She ignored his calls and his sister's visits to her house until they have given up completely. To Cassi, it was easy to hold on to one feeling, no matter how tragic the emotion may be. For so long she had to fake every emotion that before long she became a master of disguise - forging all of her emotions but not really feeling it. But then, when Sheldon sad those hateful words, pure anger, real anger, sizzled inside of her for the first time since her mother died because after her death, Cassi was left a numb, empty shell.

So she wanted to keep that feeling anchored; she wanted that hot rage to make her stomach clench every time she thought of Sheldon because it was real.

But bottling up all that anger can only end in an explosion.

She was on her bedroom floor doing homework when her brother Gregory bursted through her room, sending her nearly a foot into the air. But before she could slow her breathing and heart beat down to the normal, heathy level, her brother swooped her off the floor and clumsily waltzed around her bedroom, laughing and smiling. He then took her hand, positioned themselves in front of her door, and spun her around out of her room, down the hallway, and in to the kitchen.

When Greg pushed her in a chair, both were out of breath, but that didn't stop her brother from grinning ear to ear. Cassi, however, was dizzy from the spinning, and was holding her head in her hands to try to stop the room from twirling around her.

"I think you should stick with baseball," she groaned, but smiled nonetheless. She looked up and beamed at Greg and his twin, Theodore, who was sitting across from her. Both were a splitting image of their mother: brown curly hair, big round brown eyes, a roman nose, tall, and the kind of face that just attracted kind things. Theodore, however, was much chubbier than his brother, but it was all the more to hug.

"What are you doing here?" she asked. She hadn't seen them for a while because they lived so far away.

"Well..." Greg drawled out with a smirk. "We were just in the neighborhood, and -"

"Greg's getting married," Theo interrupted plainly.

"Dude!" Greg exclaimed as he punched his brother's arm.

As if he was used to the torture by Greg, Theo rolled his eyes and said, "Well, if I'd let you keep going, it'd be hours before you've actually told her."

"I was growing suspense," Greg pouted. He folded his arms and sat next to Cassi - as far away from his brother as possible.

Cassi was excited for her brother, but that anger she felt towards Sheldon... It felt like it was morphing into jealousy. It was spreading.

"That's great!" she said, straining a smile. "Who's the lucky girl?"

"Believe it or not," Greg began, "it's my high school sweetheart! Can you believe that? You remember her, right? Molly? It's such a coincidence that we took Psychology 101 at the University of Houston just to get enough credits to graduate! God, I mean... What are the odds, man?"

Her nails pinched into her palm as she balled her hands into a fist. "Yeah," she said. "What are the odds?"

Gregory and Theodore would be staying two weeks with Cassi and their father, and Greg said that Molly was staying with her family in Florida. The couple agreed that they wanted to spend time with their family until they had to start planning the wedding.

On the fourth night of her brother's stay, Cassi was in her room getting ready for bed. It was a Sunday, and she had school in the morning. Right after she slipped on a t-shirt, someone knocked on her door.

"What?"

Theo poked his head in and said, "Someone's on the phone for you."

That anger started to bubble. Her shoulders tensed, but she didn't turn around to face her brother.

"Who is it?" she asked. She tried to keep herself calm.

"It's uh..." Theo paused. "It's Sheldon. Uhm... Dad told me what he did. What you said he did."

Cassi whipped her head around and glared at her brother. "So you don't believe me?"

"No! No!" Theo quickly said, eyes widened. "Course I believe you. It's just... I think you're blowing this way out of proportion." He looked behind him, then turned back and sighed. "You may have everyone else fooled with your false emotions, but you can't get passed me, Cassi. I know you, and I know how you used all of those other friends in Florida to feel something. I know that when they couldn't fill that void, you'd push them out of your life. But somehow... Somehow Sheldon has made you feel again. It's anger, I know, but an emotion. If anything, I think you should thank him, not cast him out like the others. In a way... He saved you."

Theo stood by her door a moment longer to get an answer out of his sister. But Cassi pulled away the sheets on her bed and crawled in.

"Tell him I said to leave me alone."

That night she had a dream that _she was in an empty cage. Sheldon had his back to her with a suitcase in hand. He waved down a cab, climbed in, and drove off, but instead of the car moving, the background did. Sheldon climbed out and boarded a plane. Again, the plane did not move, but the clouds zipped passed. When he got off, everything disappeared and it was just Cassi and him with his back turned to her. She called out, desperate._

"_Sheldon!" she cried._

"_Go away." His voice was bouncy, like he was talking into a bowl of jello._

_She tried again. "Sheldon!"_

"_I said go away."_

_These words sounded too familiar, but she was determined to get him to look at her._

"_Sheldon!"_

_He turned to her, but instead of seeing his permanent pout, she saw herself with so much rage that it sent her reeling back into her wet pillow._

She blinked her eyes opened, rubbed her eyes, and looked at the clock. 5:30. She slipped out of bed and started to get ready for school.

That day, her dream stuck to her like glue. She knew what it meant, that she had to forgive Sheldon, but she feared that if she let go of that one emotion, she wouldn't feel anything anymore. So throughout the day, she was conflicted: forgive or not to forgive? That was the question, Billy.

When she got home, she saw her brothers throwing a football to each other. She dropped her school bag by the tree and joined them, but dropped the ball nearly every pass, and when she did catch it, she dropped it while celebrating.

As the sun was setting and the gnats were getting too bothersome, they decided to head back in. Theo and Cassi dropped behind Greg as he walked towards the house.

"I thought about what you said..." Cassi said suddenly.

"Oh really?" her brother asked. "And what was that?"

"Sheldon was the only... real friend that I've ever had."

"He can still be your friend, you know." He looked down at his sister and smiled.

She looked up and grinned back and began to sprint to Sheldon's house.

When she got to the front door, she was about to knock, but stopped herself. What if Missy was mad at her? She definitely didn't want to feel the wrath of Missy Cooper. Cassi actually wanted to live and see the age of nineteen. So instead, she ran to the side of the house under Sheldon's window, her fingers inching to open it.

She pressed her palms on the glass and pushed up until it opened a crack and then slipped her fingers through and opened the window wider. She jumped up, crawled through, and closed the window behind her. When she turned around, her jaw dropped.

Everything but the shadows of the furniture were there. His room was empty. No blue comforter, no desk lamp, no monkeys or toy trains or hundreds of books on his bookshelf or desk or along the walls in neat little stacks. He was...

"Gone."

Cassi quickly turned to see Missy in the doorway. Cassi felt like she was just punched in the stomach. How can Sheldon be gone?

"He left this morning," she said dully.

"Where'd he go?" Cassi whispered. Her throat went dry.

"California. He's going to school there, and there's better opportunities for him."

"California? But..." Cassi paused to take a breath. "But he didn't say goodbye."

"He tried to." Missy took a step forward and narrowed her eyes.

"_Someone's on the phone for you."_ Cassi could hear Theo's voice echo in her mind.

Were all of his calls and all of Missy's visits to tell her that he was leaving?

"He's not coming back," Missy said, her voice slicing through the thick tension. "So I don't really think there's any need for you coming barging in like this."

Cassi, though reluctantly, took that as a "get out" and climbed out of the window.

When she got home, she opened the front door, saw her two brothers and her father in the kitchen, and said:

"Sheldon's gone."

* * *

**A/N:**_ So I said I'd get this done by Friday, huh? Heh... Sorry. Erm, so yeah. This is the end. Crappy, huh? I know. I know. But really, I just didn't have the time. I didn't know moving out included so much packing_. xD

_So... Wow, guys! I FINISHED a multi-chaptered story! Even for the crappy ending, you have to be proud of me. I mean, I have NEVER, EVER finished a story before. E-V-E-R. And really, it's 'cause of my fantastic reviewers that have endured my best and my worst chapters of this story. I thank you. A LOT_. =D

_Wow... I still... I still can't believe I finished it. I might change the ending to sound so much better, but just the feeling of finishing... Okay, I'm sorry. I just never felt this way before_. xD

_Oh! How do you like Gregory and Theodore?_ ;D

**Disclaimer:** _The Big Bang Theory -_ n._ the theory that the universe originated sometime between 10 billion and 20 billion years ago from the cataclysmic explosion of a small volume of matter at extremely high density and temperature _**OR**_ the comedy on CBS created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady. Both, however, are not mine._ :)

**P.S.:** _There's a link on my profile of a girl I think looks like Cassi. That's how I envisioned her, but you may have seen her differently._ =)

**P.P.S.:**_ There's going to be a sequel._ =DDDDDDDDDD


End file.
